Back in the Dark Again
by Fantasy Cat
Summary: THE END! Sequel to "Growing Up in the Dark". It's now been two months since Peter and Olivia went on their mission in the other reality and never came back. Darker but with more P/O.
1. Chapter 1

_**Greetings. You know the drill. If you haven't read "Growing Up in the Dark" chances are you will likely have no idea what is going on in this fic as there's a lot of AU stuff that connects. So that's a recommended read before this one. **_

_**I will admit that I ended that story too much in a rush. A lot of stuff got cut out that I forgot to add and I wanted the story to end a little differently than it did but I was still debating on whether or not to do a sequel. Well, I guess I'm doing it now. I cant guarantee anything with this though. It might jump to rated M later but I suspect this will be a short/brief fic. Of course everytime I do say that it ends up being waaaaaaaay too long. Heh.**_

_**Here's a prologuish chapter. Sorry if not much is happening. I'm just setting up for what I'll write tomorrow. Have fun.**_

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything...except for a little bit of the crazy plot I conjured up in my mind.**

* * *

It had been hell.

Astrid knew what was waiting for her the moment she would begin her day at work. That was because work was no longer what it used to be. Instead of assisting Walter with a dead body (often ending with a resolution), she was assisting Walter with a near hopeless quest. She doesn't want to fully consider the likelihood that Peter and Olivia were gone forever. After all, she had seen far too many impossible things in her young life and there was without doubt more impossible things still out there.

She was just irritated with what she had to put up with now. She had to get up at 5am, drive over to Walter's, make sure he didn't die in his sleep, wake him up, make him breakfast, help him get ready, and then drive him to the lab where he would waste 16 hours a day on tests, research, and dreams…dreams of reuniting with his son.

At least today would be a little different. Walter made some alterations to the long broken machine that could open the other reality. Without William Bell around, Walter was clueless as to how to fix a machine that seemed unfixable from the looks of all the burnt wires and mechanics inside.

Walter felt that today was his breakthrough.

"Now then Agent Farnsworth," he said. "On the count of three, you will release the cat."

Astrid was struggling with her grip on the sides of an orange tabby. Walter had placed his special blend of catnip across the room for the cat to run to at the exact moment.

"Please hurry," Astrid whined. "It's scratching me."

"Almost ready." Walter secured the wires then gave the machine a soft pound of his fist. He heard something running within and became excited. "Yes!" Walter placed his hand on the dial. "One…two…three!"

Walter quickly turned the dial the same moment Astrid let go of the cat. It zoomed across the lab. A faded gray cloud seemed to appear for a brief moment but it quickly disappeared and the feline went straight through…making it to the catnip that was waiting for him.

It took a few moments for Walter to realize that the machine failed once again. "DAMMIT!"

"Walter…"

"This was supposed to work this time! I was sure this would be it!" CURSE THIS!!!"

Astrid had to stop Walter before he took his rage on the lab. "Walter, we need to take a break."

"Yes, one minute and we'll try again."

"No, I mean you need to take a break from this. You haven't rest a single day since they left, but I think if you took a week off from all of this maybe..."

"I will do no such thing! Do you have a son over there, Agent Farnsworth?"

"…no."

"Then you have no right to tell me when I can stop looking for him. What is your job anyway? To do what I tell you."

"Actually, Walter. That has changed, my new job now is to make sure that you're okay and the fact of the matter is…you're not okay."

Walter was so angry, he almost wanted to destroy the blasted machine that failed to bring Peter and Olivia back from the other side. He stopped himself, gave an angry huff and said, "I will not rest until Peter is home. I don't care how long it takes."

Astrid sighed in frustration. Walter's last statement left an unsettling feeling in her. What if it Walter ended up spending the rest of his life on this without success? What if Peter and Olivia were already dead?

She hated that she had to give Walter some sense of hope when it was fading by the day. Despite the efforts of Nina's staff at Massive Dynamic, it seemed that nothing could be done to fix or replicate the alter-reality device…not without William Bell around. They were working daily on the matter, but none of them seemed more determined and perseverant. No one at Massive Dynamic or the FBI was as vigilant as Walter was on bringing those two home.

As much as she commended Walter's sense of love and hope for his son…rest assured, Astrid was starting to really hate working at the lab.

Nothing was the same anymore.

~*~*~*~

Boston was a fading memory. More than half of the city was rubble now coated in cream-colored snow, far from the pure white that nature intended.

There had been many attempts to resurrect the city in the most unusual and awkward of ways only for that to fail as well.

Now few people walked the streets as the weather began its unusual transformation. Many die during this time of year. Most of the corpses were buried in the cream-colored snow, so one would never be able to see them anyway. But there were many of them. There were even restricted areas devoted to dumping the bodies. These were called 'dead pits'. Whatever would happen to those bodies afterwards was whatever nature wanted. The survivors did not wanted to waste what little resources they had with the dead anyway.

A man now walked alone traveling through narrow pathways walled by snowdrifts as high as 8, maybe 10 feet tall. Makeshift signs led the man to a large doorway. Once shielded by store glass, the entryway into the large complex was now covered by blue tarp.

The large complex was once a fashion mall. The man was instantly sweating from the heat provided by the generator and went straight to removing the large layers of clothing that allowed him to survive the journey here. The guards were greeted by a gruff brunette man, his scruff and whiskers had become slightly thicker since his last visit. He had to go through the standard security checks, making sure he didn't carry any weaponry or valuables that the corrupt and crooked here wouldn't mind taking for their own.

But he knows that no one would lay a hand on him. He was a brilliant customer at this trading post.

And he went where most people went upon first arriving, to one of the dealer rooms. The dealer rooms used to be either a Starbucks or a cookie store back in the days of civilization. Now it was a place to play poker and earn tokens. This was more than entertainment. This was survival. Winning trading chips in the dealer rooms meant better bargains on food, clothing, medical supplies, and maybe get a few other goods on hand.

He was glad to know that he playing a bunch of large dumb idiots who probably thought they would survive just on Darwin's evolution theory alone. He was the smallest man at the table but he was the only one who played the game well.

"Bastard."

The winner only replied to the insult with a smirk and grabbed his winnings. It should be enough.

One of the big guys immediately grabbed his arm. "Where'd you learn to play like that?"

He told the truth. "Trust me, I learned from the best."

"I think you're full of shit!"

It was fortune that allowed a few security guards to approach the table. "Not so fast, buddy."

"This son of a bitch is cheating!" said one of the big guys. "I know it! He's got some sort of gimmick going. Check his person!"

The winner sighed and allowed the guards to check him.

"No cards. He's clear," said the guard. "You should take your damn chips and get the hell out of here."

"You can't be serious!" said the big man. The guards had to restrain him while the winner grabbed his winnings.

He went straight to the former Bath and Body works store…now a medical supply trading post.

"You again?" said the old man behind the counter. A huge pile of chips was dumped on his counter. "What'll it be this time?"

Eyes scanned the shelf, stopping at the large brown bottle.

The clerk noticed. "Lucky for you, you got more than enough. This is the last bottle of anti-septic."

"I'll take it then."

"What do you need to keep coming into my shop for anyways? You got some sort of mysterious illness I don't know about?"

"No."

"Are you alone?"

The question caught him by surprise. He took a moment, hopefully not too long a moment to respond but he looked to the floor when he spoke "yeah…I'm alone."

The clerk was suspicious as hell now but he might as well just accept the chips. The man also grabbed more first aid items, bandages and tools paid for by the chips.

Hopefully it would be enough for now.

Home seemed like an eternity away and he kept tripping through the snow banks, kept losing his direction. He had been gone for a lot longer than he planned. He was cursing himself but at the same time, he kept thinking _'remember why you're doing this'_.

It was enough to get him to move on, until finally he could see familiar signs of things near his encampment.

The cream colored snow was falling again at a rapid speed. He was making it back just in time. Soon the temperatures would drop again. It had been this same kind of hell for the past two months.

He was tripped by another snow bank, only noticing by close inspection, it was a frozen corpse.

He kicked at the thing and began cursing this place. Who the hell ever heard of a killer frozen storm in the middle of August?!

Nevertheless this was the kind of messed up shit that Peter Bishop should've expected from an alter-version of Boston.


	2. Chapter 2

The stairway to the shelter had been completely buried by the blizzard. Peter had to make a snow tunnel to get in and out, always making sure to cover the entryway to keep out any intruders.

It had been a risky tiresome day. He was not too surprised to find that the traps throughout the abandoned apartment had caught more rats than usual. Everyday, Peter had to clean out the traps of the dead and lay them out just to keep as many rats out of the way as possible.

He went to his comfort zone, the bedroom in the far back, and sat next to the lump of blankets and pillows that had been resting there. He placed a hand over and watched the lump move and turn, until finally a pale face peaked out from under the blankets and was looking back at him listlessly.

Peter smiled. "Good morning, Sunshine."

Olivia mumbled. "Don't kid with me. I know it's night."

"How do you know when you've been in stuck in bed every single day since we've been here?"

"I just do. You took forever by the way."

Peter sighed. "I know. It's just getting harder and harder to be out there."

He pulled one of her arms out from under the blankets. Just when it seemed that Olivia was on her way toward a recovery she had to get a rat bite. At that point she just wanted to give in to the inevitable but she was too weak to fight with someone like Peter. She wasn't supposed to last this long, not after being connected to CRONUS. No one was supposed to survive something like that. But she had challenged William Bell, challenged the supercomputer, and now she was left with nothing but physical and mental pain. She just wanted all to end.

She bit her lip as Peter removed the bandage from her arm. Anti-septic was torture on her open wound and she hated how sensitive she had become to the pain. She could hear Peter mutter "sorry" under his breath.

"So, I'm guessing it worked?"

Peter smiled. "Hey, I told those guys that I learned from the best but they didn't believe me."

"Well it's not easy for everyone to learn how to count cards."

"Everyone's not like you, though."

Olivia smirked. Even with all the terrible stuff that's happened she still had a sense of humor…one of few little strategies she had to cope with their difficult situation.

"Did you learn anything new?"

"Didn't have time to," explained Peter. Aside from gathering food and supplies, Peter also tried gathering information about this strange twisted reality that they had returned to. Given all the damage to the city, something really horrible must have happened. They had to be careful and pretend as though they were citizens of this reality all along. For all they knew, they were still considered criminals for their siege on Westwood.

Food stocks were decent enough that Peter didn't have to go out. For those days he was glad because there would nothing left to do but to stay in bed with Olivia.

It was an unusual arrangement but one that ensured Olivia's survival. She needed the extra body heat that Peter willingly provided but it only made their relationship a little more awkward now. She thought perhaps, it shouldn't matter. If they ever got out alive, then she would look back on this in embarrassment. But now she was too weak to deal with anything.

And their living conditions were getting moldy. Not good for Olivia's condition. She knew she didn't have a choice, as it was Peter's call. It was time for them to move out and find some place safer. Olivia was going to have her first taste of the nomad life. The kind Peter once lived before they would cross paths in their adulthood.

The clerk from the trading post was right to have been suspicious about Peter having bought a foldable wheelchair the day before he and Olivia would finally depart. They didn't have much food but they did have what every person needed more in the post-apocalyptic world: guns.

So far they only had a revolver and a hunting rifle to start. Hopefully they could obtain more with time.

Peter carried Olivia to the surface and her eyes laid waste to the cream colored snow for the first time. Her first thought that this could not be snow. It had to be some sort of toxin in the clouds that could allow such a twisted act of nature. It definitely had the makings of Walter or Bell's work at hand.

Peter gently placed her in the wheelchair and gave her the revolver to place somewhere in the many layers of coats and blankets she wore.

"Any monsters we should be worried about?" she asked him.

"Just a few rabid squirrels foaming at the mouth."

"Very funny."

The blizzard had been reduced to moderate but irritable winds as Peter pushed the wheelchair through the snow-barren streets. Olivia was not surprised as how many times they had to stop because the wheelchair got stuck. She would protest but Peter was stubborn, the most stubborn man she ever knew, and he wasn't going to listen to any command that would involve leaving her behind.

After nearly a day of traveling, they arrived in an area that resembled Cambridge. Many buildings were still intact in this part of town. There were even work cars driving up and down the streets. As they got closer to an area of apartment complexes, they discovered people. The entire area had been fenced. The complex had become a civilian survivors camp.

Olivia didn't think it was a good idea to go to the survivors' camp, but Peter was insistent that it was her best chance. They could blend in…maybe find a doctor that could help her.

They were quickly stopped by a guard at the entrance. "Hold it! This is an able-body camp only. We're not taking in any sick or dying."

"My wife is just crippled," Peter bluffed. "She'll get better."

"With all due respect, sir. She looks a helluva lot more than crippled. You might as well dump her in a dead pit now cause you're wasting time here."

Peter made one slight step toward the man but Olivia managed to tug his coat. "Just forget it, Peter. Let's go."

They turned away and traveled away from the civilian areas, into the unknown. It was dangerous for the two of them to be out in the open like this but where were they to go? Peter was cursing himself for not having a plan. He should've done some exploring around for a new shelter before getting Olivia involved.

It was getting dark. Their visions were near blinding when they came upon an abandoned series of strange but familiar buildings. Windows were boarded up everywhere but one particular building caught Peter's eye and he started pushing the wheelchair forward.

Olivia became alarmed. "Where are we going?"

"Just trust me on this."

He got them up a wheelchair ramp and then began breaking down the wooden boards covering a large glass door.

The place huge but cluttered and had an unusual odor. Peter was starting to think maybe this was a mistake.

"This use to be a hospital?" asked Olivia.

"Yeah, I think it's the Harvard Medical School…er their version of it anyway."

"What are we doing here?"

"What do you think?" Peter then picked Olivia up and carried her down the darkened hallways. She was very confused until he placed her in the hospital bed of one of the patient rooms. "I know you don't like needles," Peter said bringing an IV pole over to the bed. "But we should give this a shot."

Luck was with them. Peter managed to find a fresh bag of IV and a battery-powered pump. It was the closest Olivia was going to get to expert hospital care. She would have to accept this.

"Good job, doctor."

"Thanks," said Peter. "But just so you know, I didn't take any med classes when I was at M.I.T."

The hospital was better than the apartment without doubt. But it was far more dangerous. Peter stayed in the room with Olivia every minute he could. He spent the nights sitting on a chair by the doorway with the rifle close at hand.

The IV seemed to be helping Olivia. There was a bit of color to her face and a little more meat on her bones with each passing day. She could move her arms and legs more but it would still be a while before she could start really moving on her own.

Until then, things in that hospital room remained dark and quiet. And Peter knew why.

"When are you going to talk to me?"

"Talk to you about?"

"You know…what you remember…about back then. You said you remembered everything now."

"I know," said Olivia. "I…I just can't."

Peter sighed. "Then it really was bad?"

Olivia wasn't going to say anymore on the subject. As much as she wanted to scream it and just get it out, Peter wouldn't look at her the same if he knew…she had kill her own father. Sure she was 4 and had no idea what she was doing. But what if it happened again? What if she caused another innocent person's head to explode over something she had no control over? And what if that next innocent person happened to be Peter?

It wasn't healthy in Peter's mind, for Olivia to be like this but she had been through enough. He had no right to force anything out of her. Some days, there wouldn't be a single word between them. On those days, he would pull a chair up to Olivia's bedside and just hold her hand.

It was just too bad the hospital bed wasn't big enough for him to crawl in and join her as she slept.

He rarely got any sleep himself keeping watch at night. Everything seemed like an illusion to him. He heard unusual scuffling and after a few seconds, Peter finally became alert and threw the door open. He couldn't see anything but he could hear it.

Peter then realized he was having difficulty standing up. This wasn't from lack of sleep at all. And that noise he was hearing was no intruder.

It was a rumbling noise.

The whole hospital continued to shake much harder.


	3. Chapter 3

He wasn't sure, but when the alarm finally sounded from outside, Peter ran back to Olivia. The bed she was lying in was already shifting around from all the shaking. He regrettably had to yank out the IV needles and pull her out of the room and into the hallway. She was confused and in pain. Peter was telling her to get down, and she didn't understand why.

Finally when they got to a safe spot in the hallway, Peter pushed her down and completely shielded her with his own body.

That's when they arrived.

First came the sounds, like a speeding racecar.

Then a loud blast. Glass breaking in the rooms up and down the hall. More loud blasts. They continued to come repeatedly. There was even flashes of blue light.

The shaking was slowly ceasing after a few seconds…

…eventually, the blasts did too.

Still they remained huddled against the wall in the darkened hallway with heavy breaths. Olivia was shaking. It was long before the attack ended and she was unable to calm herself.

"What…the hell was that?"

Peter tried to calm her with a slight rub of the back. "I…I dunno."

Olivia said, "it sounded like a nuclear bomb."

"In this universe?" said Peter. "I'd think they'd be a little more clever than that."

He helped Olivia to her feet and the two stood at the doorway to the room they were just in. The window had been completely blown away as well as much of the surrounding wall. The floor was flooded in broken glass and toppled furniture.

The two were lucky that the hospital itself didn't collapse on them. But now it was no longer safe for them to be there.

They would have to move again.

Peter wheeled Olivia out of the hospital and they both agreed to take a look at whatever it was that caused the explosions. Just about half a mile or so from where they were, they had found it.

They came across the holes, about 10 feet in diameter each. Holes that had no end. Trees and cars were leaning into the hole from the edge.

Peter wanted to get up close to one to see but Olivia pleaded with him not to.

Her instinct was right, as he got a little closer he realized that the trees and cars were being pulled into the holes. He quickly stepped back. These holes had some form of suction and it was determined to absorb everything within and around their perimeters.

Luckily, once the trees on the edges of the holes were completely sucked in, that was that.

The two of them got as far away from the holes as they possibly could and moved on.

"That was the Harvard Medical Center we were in?" asked Olivia.

"Yeah?"

"That means we're in Harvard. Are you thinking…"

"That we should visit the lab?" said Peter. "Why the hell not? I'm sure we'll find the old tank or something to help us with our situation. As long as my father hasn't made a place for himself there, and I mean my real father…the one that was trying to kill us."

The trek across the large campus was not without its setbacks. They had to make their way past the first dead pit they ever saw. The stench was awful, the worst of its kind. The bodies weren't covered up very well but they had deteriorated to looking like rotten banana peels. Because these bodies had been so decomposed for so long, the pile was only 4 feet tall. Rats and maggots were heavily at work picking at the dead.

Both Olivia and Peter had to cover their mouths in order to not breathe the bad air in. Peter tried to get them far away from the dead pit as quickly as he could, but Olivia didn't last. She leaned over the wheelchair and vomited. The worse feeling was the dizziness that came after leaning over to vomit. Peter came in front of her and tried to hold her up.

"Hey…don't pass out on me, alright?"

Olivia mumbled "I…can't…"

"I know. Just hang on, Liv. We're almost there."

The horrid stench and vision of the dead pit was still incased in Olivia's mind, only making her feel sicker with every second. A part of her was begging for death…anything that would put an end to the misery.

"I think this is it," said Peter. The building was covered in dead vines and boarded. It looked similar enough to the Kresge building.

Once Peter carried Olivia inside, it seemed that she was going to hit another wave of nausea but miraculously, she breathed in the air of the abandoned Kresge building. The air was cleaner and safe here, though she still felt a bit dizzy.

They went into the basement and Peter kicked open a door he knew so well in another world.

For a split second, he realized that he should've prepped himself for anything that would've been on the other side…

They entered darkness, nothing.

Peter turned on the nearby light switch. A few lights came on, merely enough to lit the entire lab.

It was dreary. There was nothing but boxes, tarps, a bathtub near the center. The walls were empty. The dust on the floor and the webs on the walls were a sure sign that the lab in this reality had been untouched for many, many years.

"You can put me down," said Olivia. He got her to her feet and let her lean near a column for support. Behind her, the door was left open leading into her own office. There were boxes of files stacked on top of each other and a cot in the corner of that room. She placed on hand on the column and another hand on the rail and looked out at what this place should be.

Right now, in the their own world, Gene would be in his stall in the back corner chewing on his haystacks. Near the center, Astrid would be at her desk doing computer work. Not close by, Walter would be enjoying a box of Junior Mints or Raisinets (or whatever his tastes were calling for) in one while gleefully doing his latest autopsy with the other.

On instinct, Olivia found herself rubbing her head. Her eyes were slowly filling with tears. They were so close, and yet so far from everything they knew…and everyone they loved.

She felt Peter approach her from behind, gently placing his hands on her shoulders, then embracing her.

Peter was the only tether, the only reminder she had left of a safer, better world.

She desperately had to take him in.

~*~*~*~

"What is it, Walter? What's wrong?"

Walter seemed to be staring off into the distance. Astrid had to wave her hand infront of him. "Hello? Walter? What are you staring at? Are you having one of those St. Claire moments again?"

Little did Astrid know that this was NOT in fact one of those St. Claire's moments Walter often would have when he would be thinking about something but was staring off into nothing.

Walter knew was he was looking at.

He was transfixed on a particular spot on the elevated floor of the lab somewhere between the railing and the nearby column.

He felt something…a familiar and comforting something…but so sad and miserable. All of these complex, heightened emotions were coming from that very spot and it seemed to be generated by more than one…"beings" perhaps?

But that was preposterous. Walter Bishop does not believe in ghosts still he couldn't help what he felt…

It almost felt like his son was closer by than he thought.

"Walter! I'm going to eat all of the Teddy Grahams if you don't snap out of it!"

Walter finally blinked and shook his head.

Instead of a quick reaction to the possible threat of his Teddy Grahams, Walter only responded with a sad sounding "oh…I'm terribly sorry. There was just something far too much on my mind."

Astrid was VERY worried by this point. "Are you alright? What was it?"

Walter gave her a sad smile. "Nothing…just my age catching up to me."

She was still not convinced that Walter was alright but what else could she do? "Okay…well you want me to look up those tools that Massive Dynamic might have?"

After a long moment in thought, Walter actually thought of something. "Yes, but if you don't mind helping me write something."

"Write what?"

"I…must write a message to a friend of mine."

"Okay, think this friend of yours is gonna help us find Peter and Olivia?"

Walter wasn't sure himself. But to get Peter back, to have him physically here instead of just a delusional moment in his mind, it was worth trying. Walter walked away from Astrid mumbling, "He just might be our only chance."


	4. Chapter 4

Neither felt comfortable staying here. Yes, it was supposed to the lab, the most familiar place in the world to both of them.

But this wasn't their world. No one knew what was to come next.

They weren't use to staying in the lab this late at night…let alone spend the night in one. Olivia would've felt stupid to be scared of her old office, which now looked like an aging storage room. So she took her chances with the cot.

Later that night, she would be stirred awake…by something in the midst of her bad dreams, reminding her that she wasn't safe…that she wasn't where she belonged. The first thing she noticed was the dark and the dusty pile of boxes that was mere feet from her sight. This was definitely not home…not even close. It almost made her want to cry until she felt a hand stroking her hair. She lifted her head and saw Peter sitting on the floor just infront of the cot.

"Thank you, Peter," she whispered having been grateful that he stayed with her the entire night.

"It's no problem," he said. "I think we better stay here. If my father finds a way to cross over, we want to be someplace where he'll think to look for us."

Olivia nodded in agreement. It was difficult just to get through this first night alone with her mind so anxious and stressed. The cot didn't feel comfortable at all. But now, it really was all about survival.

It really was about getting through one night at a time.

~*~*~*~

Olivia was left in the lab alone during the day while Peter went out. She would often spend her time trying to rehabilitate herself physically. With time, she was able to lift a fork again (although her arm would shake doing so).

She had a hard time trying to stand up but once she did, it was no problem. There was no fear of her leg bones collapsing under the weight of what was left of herself.

Aside from food and clothes, Peter surprised Olivia one day with bringing back a walker. As thoughtful and wonderful as it was for Olivia's recovery, it still made her feel like an old person.

Peter was often trying to pull Olivia up and help her to walk himself, as though she were a child taking her first steps. But Olivia remained stubborn and determined to pull herself up on her own and used the walker around the lab to move around.

It was excruciatingly painful, but well worth it.

One day Olivia even took the revolver in her hands to practice her aim…but she could stop the shaking. It wasn't even that cold out. She though perhaps she needed a stress reliever. The cot was no help. But then…she eyed the bathtub.

She cleaned it out and then to her surprise got the water running.

The bath was soothing, despite how hard the water was and she let herself relax.

"Olivia? I'm home." Peter sarcastically greeted upon entering the lab. "Where are you?"

Olivia spoke "I'm on the other side of the pile of cabinets infront of you…taking a bath."

"Really?"

"Yes and I would appreciate it if you would respect my privacy and stay on your side."

Such a request was to hard to follow for Peter, mostly due to concern for her own safety but it could also be how unusual and yet so funny it was that he could easily peek around the corner if he wanted to see Olivia completely naked. "Are you sure? What if you sprain something and can't get out of the tub?"

Olivia sighed. "I'll be fine, Peter. So…what are we having for dinner?"

"A can of beans cooked over the lab Bunsen burner. I also brought some reading material."

"Reading material?"

"From the Harvard library…we're gonna need to figure this place out. Cause last time you and I were here, I don't recall half of Boston turning into a nuclear wasteland. I got some books and newspapers so maybe we can find out what happened here…and what to expect."

"That's a good idea," Olivia said as she her head back and looked up at the ceiling. After a few minutes, she felt it was time to get out but just as she reached over her side, a sharp pain had struck. The movement was too quick and Olivia found herself wincing in pain.

She groaned unintentionally loud enough for Peter to hear. "Liv? You alright?"

"I'm…fine…Peter."

The way her voice was cracking up, only an idiot would believe Olivia at this point. Screw boundaries. Peter walked straight over, around the cabinets and looked over.

Sure enough Olivia had a hand gripping the edge of the tub in a painful and vain attempt to pull herself out.

Olivia was sure to make Peter sorry for it, but he was going to accept the risk. He went to the other end of the tub and scooped his arms under hers. It wasn't any different from pulling her out of the tank, except…god help him…he had to keep his mind off the fact that she wasn't wearing one bit of clothing this time.

Fortunately, the old coat she had worn prior to the bath was quickly retrieved and Peter wrapped Olivia in it, drying her off. The pain in her side was still getting to her, so Peter had no choice but to lay Olivia on her side.

After that, he took a moment to calm himself. His face had gone completely red. Even though it had been only a quick glimpse, not enough time to take it all in, Peter still felt a little embarrassed as to what he walked in on. But he convinced himself it was the right thing to do.

He gave Olivia a very strange shy smile. "What? What's with you?" she asked Peter.

"Your face is red, too."

Olivia tried to quickly turn her eyes away from his. "The water was hot."

"Nice try, Liv." He suddenly picked her up. "Ah!" Olivia cried from the pain. "What are you doing?"

"Relax," said Peter. He was merely carrying Olivia back to the cot. After laying her on her side, Peter covered up with just about every bit of clothing they had in the lab to keep her warm after being pulled out so quickly. "See, no harm done. You still want to eat?"

"No," she snapped. "I'm just gonna sleep if you don't mind."

Peter said nothing and left her in the office.

She wasn't liking this at all. She hated the humiliation and the other awkward feelings she felt when it came to the constant intrusion of her privacy. Sure, it made sense during the first couple of months when she couldn't move or function on her own but now she was so close to feeling better, and Olivia wanted nothing more than to be Olivia again.

But the strain in her back was setting her a few steps back from recovering. It made her far from happy.

So as the weeks went on…the tensions began to flare. Olivia was suffering from cabin fever from being stuck in an empty lab all day and the bad attitudes would eventually get to Peter.

It got to the point where she wanted to sleep in the office by herself. Although deep down, it wasn't really what she wanted. The first few nights alone, she thought she could handle it. But soon it became clear that Olivia was still scared and would have trouble sleeping. She thought about bringing the cot into the lab but she didn't want to show any weakness. She needed Peter to know that she was getting better…which was far from the truth.

It also didn't help that he was still trying to get her to talk about their childhood…or at least what she remembered of it.

"Did you major in psychology, too?" she asked.

"No," he said. "But it doesn't take much actual knowledge of psychology to earn a degree in one."

"I don't need to tell you anything."

"Fine. It's not as though we have all kinds of other…fun things we could be doing waiting for Walter to come."

"I've been trying," said Olivia. "If I'm supposed to be capable of traveling between two worlds then maybe I can find a way to get us back."

"Yeah, but I think you need to have a healthy state of mind, to do that."

Olivia was deeply frustrated. Damn Peter for being right. "I'm trying, Peter."

"Don't try so hard."

She snapped. "Are you suggesting that we just give up and just live our lives here?!"

"Geez, Liv! I'm not trying to stop you! It's not good for you to push yourself like this!"

"At least I'm making an effort to get us out, Peter!" She was on the verge of loosing it at that very moment. "What if we go to New York? Last time I traveled here, the entire city was still there. Maybe there's an alter-Nina who could help us."

"I really think we should wait for Walter."

"What's the point in waiting for Walter?!" asked Olivia. "He's probably forgotten by now that we're even here. He probably thinks we're hiding in a closet somewhere back in our reality."

Peter sighed, knowing he couldn't argue with THAT logic.

"We can't stand around and wait for someone to come, Peter. We have to find a way out ourselves."

"Look, you're not ready to go anywhere."

Olivia was fuming. "But…" said Peter. "If you show any signs of improvement in a few days, maybe we can hitchhike."

"That's fine." She went walking back to the office with her hand on her side painfully. "Anything to get out."

~*~*~*~

For weeks Walter had sense a very tense feeling in the lab. Yes it wasn't coming from Astrid or Gene. In fact, it was usually when Walter was by himself that he would feel that strange sensation. Sometimes, it came from Olivia's office and other times it actually came from within the lab.

It was frustrating and yet at the same time, it felt comforting.

But one day Walter and Astrid came into the lab and nothing could be felt. Astrid went out and came back later with lunch only to find Walter shaking as he threw open every closet and cabinet door in the lab and in the office.

"Walter?" She turned Walter around and saw tears streaming down his face.

"I…" he said. "They're not in the lab anymore.'

"Walter…"

"But they've been here. They've been here for weeks. If only I had known. If I realized sooner…but now they're gone."

Astrid gave Walter a gentle hug. She could only assume that Walter was just having another mental breakdown coping with either the loss of Peter or his deteriorating memory.

His words never made sense to her anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

In the post-apocalyptic reality, public transportation was impossible to come by and cost loads of money, which most citizens no longer had.

Good thing Peter was good at sneaking onto trains.

Olivia was trailing a little as the train was picking up speed. She probably would not have made it had Peter been ready to reach out and pull her in.

She fell on top of him, but pushed herself off once he give her that nasty but charming smirk. Peter's face then went sour again. "What the hell were you thinking taking that long? You could've missed it."

"I know," said Olivia. "I just wanted to show you that I was getting better."

"Well you failed," said Peter. "You can't fool me, Liv. I saw you almost fall because of your own ankle."

Olivia bitterly ignored him for the rest of the trip. She sat against the wall looking out through the cracks of the rugged train car they were in, watching the gray barren landscape as they went by. It looked more miserable with every mile they traveled. Every 10 miles or so, they would be in plain sight of a massive dead pit.

Peter was reading one of the magazines he brought with them. This particular magazine dealt with the most chilling form of weaponry being used in this reality. The most frightening of which Peter though was "The Invisible Microwave". "The Invisible Microwave" was a radioactive weapon in the form of a floating disc that could travel through the air, to any spot on land. When it found its direct coordinates, a massive pink ray would come out and stretch to an entire acre. Like a microwave, the entire acre of land would deteriorate and burn from radioactive heat rays in about 30 seconds or less.

Along the way, some of the damage from this form of weaponry could be seen some melted trees and powerlines. The only good from a nasty weapon like that was there was no fallout to worry about. That was the intention of many of these power weapons, to kill only at an instant and not have long-term effects that spread.

Sadly, it didn't work.

They arrived in New York City after a matter of hours and Peter was very surprised to see much of the city was still intact.

"Come on," said Olivia. "It's gonna be a long walk where we're going."

But as they entered the heart of Manhattan, the place seemed empty and hollow. There was only a small amount of population and military officials roaming the streets. Buildings were empty up and down the block.

Peter saw how worried Olivia looked. "What's wrong?"

"This isn't right," said Olivia. "When I was here last time, it was busy. There were people everywhere and helicopters…like it was a normal day."

"Well," said Peter. "Things must have gone to hell quickly after you left."

Olivia then realized, "…or after Bell died."

Peter cranked his neck up at the two tall massive buildings that were their destination.

"You do realize how freaky this is," said Peter as they walked into World Trade Tower One.

Immediately they were confronted by security guards. Olivia was about to pull the revolver out from under her when one of them said, "surrender all weapons and state your business!"

While Peter was forced to give up his rifle, Olivia took the revolver out slowly and said, "We're here to see Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic."

The guards look confused. "Ma'am we don't know what's this Massive Dynamic business is that you're talking about?"

"Then let us see Ms. Sharp. She knows what we're talking about."

"She's not here."

Peter was immediately suspicious. "So you automatically know she's not here without calling her office?"

"Hey! We don't want any trouble from you people. So I suggest you turn around and leave the premises immediately before we have you two shipped to a detention facility, got it?"

Peter eyed Olivia as she cautiously took a step towards the door. He then asked the guards "Can we at least have our guns back?"

The guards droved them away until they were out of the building.

Olivia turned to Peter for the one theory they both seem to agree on. "They were lying, weren't they?"

Peter nodded. "They're covering up something. None of it makes any sense. They have no clue of Massive Dynamic and yet they immediately knew who Nina Sharp was?"

"Maybe Massive Dynamic doesn't exist in this reality. Maybe it's a different company…William Bell may have created a different organization here."

"Whatever it is," said Peter. "Something's not right."

Olivia looked long and hard at the other entrances to the building and then asked "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Peter smiled. He was.

~*~*~*~

Walter took a deep breath before leaning his face against the glass of the Thai restaurant.

He said under his breath "Praise Einstein!"

September was sitting in a booth in the far back, dumping an entire bottle of hot chili sauce into his soup when he looked up and saw a gleaming, smiling Walter. "Hello, Dr. Bishop. It's nice to see you again."

"I'm just ecstatic that you got my message," said Walter.

September crushed an entire pepper into his soup. "You are here to discuss with me the matter of your son, Peter Bishop and one Agent Olivia Dunham, both of whom are currently residing in the alternate reality."

"Oh yes, very much so." Walter leaned over hoping to keep the conversation between him and September. "I figured if anyone could help…it could be you."

September took a sip of his soup and then said, "I cannot help you."

"I'm sorry," said Walter who looked very confused. "What was that you said?"

"I'm afraid I cannot help you on this matter, Dr. Bishop."

The words weren't getting to Walter…well, he did hear him, but Walter was refusing to believe them. "What? What do you mean you cannot help?"

"I cannot interfere in this matter."

"But, I don't understand. You've interfered in matters before. Are they not important to your cause? My son and Agent Dunham?"

"They are of great importance Dr. Bishop. But this is a rather unusual and delicate situation. We as Observers cannot interfere in all affairs and…"

"Then what makes this one any different?!" Walter was getting very frustrated now.

September placed a $20 bill on the table and got up to leave.

"The children are back where they belong now."

Walter ran after him before he reached the door, tugged the Observer's coat as he got down on his knees. "Please," he said in tears. "You cannot do this! Not to them! Not to my son!"

September showed no emotion as he looked down at the helpless scientist and spoke to him to truth. "It is going to get much worse for them. There is nothing I can do."

With that, Walter's grip on September's coat was gone. He remained there on the floor unable to control his cries as September regretfully walked out.

~*~*~*~

Two garbagemen had arrived at the back entrance where there was virtually no security or even other humans present for that matter.

After Peter and Olivia knocked them out, they put on their outfits (Olivia putting on a hat for good measure) and they took a back elevator up to the near top where Bell's office was.

They arrived to find the floor in complete darkness. Nearly every room they would walk pass down the hall had been emptied.

Once they found William Bell's former office, Peter broke the door open with much perseverance. Much of his remainings were left untouched. Olivia rummaged through the drawers and started searching through folders. Peter found himself a nice looking gun hanging on a mantle.

"Peter…"

He came over and saw Olivia looking at one particular folder. There was a note written and attached to the front that said:

'_I need you to ensure that these people are dead or have them eliminated immediately.'_

It was signed by William Bell.

When Olivia opened the folder the first thing she saw was a photo file of Nina Sharp herself. A giant X had been marked on the photo with the word _'terminated'_ written on the margin.

She put the photo aside and her eyes went wide.

Another photo. Giant X. Terminated.

It was Phillip Broyles.

The third photo was the most shocking.

She had almost forgotten that she helped them when they were small children. The fate was something she did not deserve.

But there it was. A photo of Astrid Farnsworth with a big X. On the margin was written _'executed 9-14-01'_.

"He killed them," said Olivia. "He killed all of them."

Peter sighed. "He knew we were coming…and wanted to make sure that we couldn't rely on them for help."

Olivia said nothing and just stared at the photos for a very long time.

"Liv?" said Peter. "We better get out of here before they find us."

Olivia was feeling greatly uncertain. "And go where?"

"We'll go back to Boston. Wait for Walter. He won't give up on us. We can't give up waiting for him."

They were in the elevator and got to around floor 16 when the lights went dark and everything started to shake.

Peter remembered the gun he got from the office. "Stand back," said Peter. "I think they found us."

Sure enough the elevator stopped at floor 8 and the doors open. Peter fired the first shot and brought down one of the guards. Olivia went after the other guard and disarmed him quickly and knocked him out.

Peter saw more guards were coming.

"Let's go Liv!"

She got her own gun and followed Peter down the hall. They ran for the stair exit and found themselves leaping whole steps of them to move faster.

"Head for the bottom floor!"

Peter agreed with Olivia to head all the way to the bottom. They found themselves in a massive dark parking lot zigzagging their way through rows of piles cars as the guards finally caught up to them.

Peter found a water pipe as they got near the exit and fired. Water began spewing out and pouring into the parking lot slowing the guards' pursuit. Olivia took out the guard at the exit and the two just ran for it. They ran through the World Trade Plaza praying to get out of this alive.

They got lucky once they got to the streets, but neither of them saw the truck that seemed to be charging right toward them.

* * *

_**Yeah, that's right...you got cliffhanger'd! Again! Sorry this took so long for me to update. I've been in writer's block hell with this one. Don't expect things to be all epic and fully thought out like its predecessor. This one I plan to make relatively short. Ugh, now I really am regretting just making these additional chapters in "Growing Up" but oh well.**_


	6. Chapter 6

"OLIVIA!"

She didn't have time to stop and look back before the source of the voice tackled her and the two of them crash-landed into an alley.

The truck that zoomed past them could be heard screeching to a halt.

"Sorry about that," said Peter referring to the scrapes and bruises Olivia got from Peter pushing her to the concrete.

Now the truck was quickly backing in reverse. There was no need to question why.

Peter grabbed Olivia's hand and they hurried down the back alleys. They were gonna have plenty of pursuers now.

After a few blocks of running, the pair knew that they would eventually reach a dead end. It was Olivia who stopped and pulled open the nearest sewer grate she found. The two quickly got in and kept out of sight beginning their journey through the darkened sewer tunnels.

Fortunately they had dried out a long time ago so neither had to submerge in murky waters. But it was dark and Olivia was doing everything she could to mentally will the busted lights of the sewers to come on…

…but nothing.

The pair continued to stumble into each other until Peter stopped.

"Peter, wait."

Olivia wanted to stay and focus on the light.

"I'm not waiting around, Liv. What if they're following us?" Peter could barely see a nearby ladder. "We'll take this ladder up."

"No! I said wait a minute!"

Olivia's frustration echoed throughout the whole sewer tunnel. Her mind felt blank and almost dead. Hard as she tried to even imagine the lights in the sewer coming on…they just would not.

Finally, Peter grabbed Olivia and pulled her all the way to the ladder.

The surface they reached led into an abandoned building…the back kitchen of a former restaurant. Peter looked around to see if there was anything left around that was edible. Not so surprisingly, there was nothing. Peter and Olivia were left to slump down on the kitchen floor in defeat.

"It's over, Peter."

Her voice sounded so meek. It sounded as if she was in despair, which only confused and frightened Peter. "What are you talking about?"

"I've been trying to days, weeks, months to try and find a way back. I've been doing what I was made to do but I can't…I can't even turn on a few light bulbs anymore…I think I lost ability."

Olivia was not one to ever embrace her destiny as a super soldier and yet she felt like a part of her had been lost. She must've used up all of her ability just to fight off William Bell and the CRONUS supercomputer and now she was just another helpless being who couldn't even help Peter.

"We have to consider the scenario here, Peter. We could be spending the rest of our lives here."

He sighed. "I know."

They sat there in silence, holding hands. Olivia felt the burden of guilt on her shoulders for leading the two of them to their doom.

Finally, Peter spoke. "You know, I kinda wished that Walter hadn't found us…when we were kids. I was just starting to like keeping away from the outside world."

Olivia scoffed. "You liked living in a dead person's house and eating garbage scraps?"

Peter laughed. "Hey you didn't mind at all."

"No," Olivia recalled with a faint smile. "I guess I didn't."

"It was good because it was just us. I've been wondering what it could've been like if we had stayed here. We could've grown up together.

"Yeah," said Olivia. "…or we could've become feral children."

Peter laughed. "Hey, I taught you how to read. Give me some credit here."

Looking down at the floor, Olivia noticed a strange glimmer. For a second she had actually thought that her abilities came back. To her disappointment, she realized that it was just the reflection of light in a small shiny object.

Reaching over to pick it up, she found that it was a ring. Inside of the ring were the markings _'W.H. & A.H.'_

Peter looked over at the ring curiously and said, "Think we can pawn it off? Get ourselves from bread and some vodka?"

"Peter, this was someone's wedding ring…" She sighed and said "I don't think we can anything for it since it's personalized. But still…" Olivia had decided to pocket the ring. Maybe they could get something for it. After all, the world was crashing down all around them. It didn't help to have a little bit of currency on hand.

~*~*~*~

"What's the latest on Dr. Bishop?"

"I don't know if you would call it the latest," said Astrid. "He's still having trouble dealing with everything."

"We need him to be in top condition to get back to work," said Broyles. "We've given him a few months off and Massive Dynamic is doing everything they can to find another way to access the other reality, but this may take months…even years. Tell him his vacation ends tomorrow."

Astrid sighed and agreed to the task, though she knew that deep down it wasn't going to be easy. There were still Pattern cases to solve and without two of the three geniuses to solve them, some of the cases would not end with satisfactory results. New agents were being trained to work with Walter…even Astrid was gaining more field experience. But it just wasn't the same. She was now practically the only person left who could communicate with Walter or at the very least keep him sane during this difficult time.

"We have to get back to doing Pattern cases tomorrow, Walter."

"But…my son…"

"I know, Walter," Astrid said sympathetically. "I know…but there's nothing we can do for them."

Walter felt a twitch of guilt. He knew that this wouldn't even be a problem if he only had his memory back of how he originally made the device. But that knowledge was permanently gone. He was also still feeling helpless from the words the Observer told him at the restaurant.

But in his mind, the children did NOT belong there. They NEVER belonged there. He remembered seeing those awful marks on his boy…the awful signs of abuse he had endured in the other world. He saved them both. He hated Peter for agreeing to with Olivia on that mission to face their pasts and he hated himself for not being able to stop either of them better.

"I could've done something," said Walter.

"It'll be alright. I think they would want us to get back to work. I think they would want us to keep all the Pattern activity in order here, don't you?"

Walter said nothing and coldly turned away from Astrid. There was truth to what she said. If Peter would here he would probably tell him to stop meddling over a box of Girl Scout cookies and the outrageous prices for a box of Tagalongs and get back to work.

Astrid silently prayed for God to help whatever poor souls would be recruited to replace Peter and Olivia in the Fringe Division from here on out.

~*~*~*~

They both woke to the sound of a bang. Neither of them had to time to think over how stupid it was they had both fallen asleep. And it was far to late to make an escape without being seen.

Peter was the first to react, ready to pull out the gun.

"No. Wait." Olivia lowered his arm. "We'll get them when they don't think we're a threat."

Finally a group of men appeared in the kitchen, armed with guns and flashing lights. Peter and Olivia rose to face them.

"Found two," said one man.

Another man then appeared who oddly enough look liked the first man. Then Peter and Olivia looked around and realized that all the men looked facially the same.

They were clones.

"Squatters aren't allowed in here."

"Trust me," said Peter. "This place is crap. We weren't planning on staying."

The leader nodded to the others. "Search them."

Two of the guards approach Olivia but reflexes kicked in and she had send them both sprawling to the floor. Peter had another guard knocked against a kitchen cabinet.

Olivia pulled out her gun but like magic, more clone guards had swooped in from out of nowhere with guns at hand.

Peter didn't even notice that they were badly outnumbered now as he continued to beat one of the men. Finally, two guards came and held Peter back.

Their guns were then taken away.

"You," the lead guard pointed to Olivia. She looked at the man in defiance. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Olivia smirked. "Six years in military academy. Four years in Marine Corps."

He laughed. "A militant woman. We rarely have your type around here anymore."

"I hope that's your way of coming on to me," Olivia said.

"Hardly. I'd rather put bullets in both your heads so we can continue clearing out the block. Though you are a Marine, you practically have a free ticket out of this mess don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Governor is running low on soldiers. They're looking for people with militant or police experience to work the labor camps up north."

Neither Peter nor Olivia like the sounds of that "labor camp". But the good news for them was that none of the guards here seem to acknowledge any of their criminal activity.

"How do we sign up?" Olivia asked. Peter was about to open his mouth in protest but then…

"We'll have an escort take you to the recruiting center to sign some paper and then they'll have a convoy their to take you to your workplace. As for your friend here…" the guard pointed to Peter. "We'll have to kill him."

A few of the guards pointed their guns at Peter. Olivia quickly stepped in. "He's my husband!!!"

The room went silent.

The leader of the guards was instantly suspicious. "Really? You have any proof or identity papers?"

With a magic slip of fingers, Olivia's hand came into full view. There was now a strange gold band on the ring finger.

"Give it here." The guard took the ring off of Olivia and the leader took a close look at the initials. "What's your surname then?"

"It's Hill," said Peter. "I'm…Walter Hill." That was too easy for Peter to come up with on the spot. Finding an alias for Olivia that started with an A wasn't easily but quickly he said "and this is my wife Angela."

The lead guard looked between the two of them for a second and then. "Alright then, you both come with us. Not that you have a choice either way. The days of giving civilians a choice ended long ago. It's either work, labor camp, or death."

The two were escorted out and taken to the center. While Olivia signed the papers with her alias, Peter was more reluctant about the two of them being sent to work in a labor camp…even if they were guaranteed to be move up the ranks.

"Just do it, Pe-…Walter," said Olivia. She whispered in his ear pretending to be a little bit intimate about it infront of the recruiter. "If we gain their trust now, we can sneak out later."

She then gave him a kiss. A kiss that came completely from out of nowhere. Sure Olivia was putting on an act but that didn't stop Peter from going wide-eyed from the shock nor did it allow him to keep his breath steady when it was over.

Eventually he calmed himself down again and though this all over. Peter didn't like any of this but he didn't have much of a choice. The only way for him and Olivia to stay together was to sign those papers.

Not a moment too soon, the pair had boarded the convoy and headed towards the dark unknown…living a lie that could not guarantee their safety.


	7. Chapter 7

For eighteen hours of her day, she had to walk down the aisles in-between the long tables and watch to make sure everyone was doing their job.

It was nauseating. Bodies and corpses were lined up along the tables as workers toiled everyday to pick out the green shards that killed them. The dead had been victims of a massacre of an unusual alter-world weapon years ago that solidified their victims on impact and now they were too valuable. It was believed that the green shards could be used as a temporary new fuel source but first they had to remove every little shard from all life that it had affected…including 7 million humans.

It was also devastating. The workers in Olivia's unit were all women but most of them were sick, disabled, or just not in any shape or form to work with dangerous materials. They had no protection from their contact with the dead except for some cheap latex gloves and surgical masks but no aprons or protective coats. The green shards were sharp and many would still get cuts while working to pick them out.

After months on the job, Olivia still didn't know how she got so lucky. Perhaps her toughness was exactly what these people needed to keep the workers in line. Though she rarely punished anyone. It wasn't something that she could get away with for very long, but she failed to see the point in beating the crap out of someone when there weren't even enough people alive to work.

She wasn't sure if this place was even a prison or a refugee camp. The environment was too harsh to be considered a refugee camp yet those who ran this complex insisted it wasn't a prison. People got food, clothing, hygiene supplies, and even their own living spaces but it was all of mediocre quality. And despite being a skilled shooter and guard, Olivia still wasn't treated any better than the poor women she was hired to keep an eye on. The sweat of the living would often mix with the stench of the dead and it made the small factory impossible to breathe in.

Olivia was seriously going to need a drink after tonight…except it's been way too long since she had one.

The women worked like sickly zombies never daring to look up from their work. Olivia tried often to not look at them. She had pity in her eyes for these people who were slowly wasting away, but her face was forbidden from showing any emotion.

She noticed that one of the girls was missing from her post. It was rather unusual because breaks were rare and far in-between but maybe she had already passed out and was taken away.

She might as check with that bastard Thatcher, the man who supervised the sorting of fuels in his department. But he only came out to randomly scream at people who weren't working. Other times, he would just stay in his office to bang some prostitute who managed to weasel her way out of working in a factory like this.

When she walked around the wall, she heard strange cries, almost like whimpering.

On the other side, Thatcher had a young woman pinned to his desk…the same woman who was missing from her post.

"Thatcher!"

The man looked up at Olivia bitterly taking his hand off the woman's leg, the other slid out from under her skirt. As soon as the woman was free, she quickly walked pass Olivia daring not to look anyone in the eye. But Olivia turned to her and said, "Just get back to work." The woman quickly retreated.

"You've been nothing but a pain in my ass since you started here, Hill," Thatcher growled.

"Only doing my job," she said, showing no fear. "We're gonna have a hard time meeting quota with you busy feeling up all the workers."

Thatcher laughed grossly at her. "You're taking this job far too seriously. What are you expecting? A promotion?"

"I'm not the one sitting on my ass calling themselves a supervisor."

"You should watch your mouth," Thatcher threatened her.

"Don't need to," said Olivia. "I'm the one they let carry a gun."

She knew she was probably stepping her boundaries but in this reality, she didn't care. Just as she was turning to leave, Thatcher turned her back to face him. She tried to fight him off but he instead swiped the gun from Olivia's hands and threw it aside. Then he shoved her against a wall.

Olivia stood her ground despite the fact that Thatcher seemed to be smirking with victory. He managed to pin both of Olivia's hands behind her back.

"I wouldn't do this," Olivia threatened him.

Thatcher laughed. "You think I'm gonna be shaken up by a threat from that husband of yours? Walter is just a lowly butcher, but I am your supervisor. That means I get to do all I want…" Thatcher grabbed a hold of Olivia's hair then leaned closer to her ear. "…and touch…all I want."

The disgust was already running through her body before she felt that cold sickening tongue of his come in contact with the side of her neck. It took its sweet time traveling upwards all the way to her earlobe where it chose to tease her with a few laps.

By then, the whistle blew. Olivia was able to quickly free herself from Thatcher's loosened grip. He was disappointed that the time was short lived but had a look of victory on his face when he saw the look of fear and disgust in Olivia's face. She reached for her gun before disappearing behind the wall but now she had been unwillingly proved to Thatcher that she was a fraud, helpless and vulnerable beyond her authoritarian position.

***

Work in the slaughterhouse let out much earlier than the factory. Every night, Peter would wait outside for her while amidst the seedy individuals who he would sometimes make trades with.

At 1am the factory let out as usual and Peter immediately spotted Olivia keeping her mask on as she herded everyone out the gate while the factory was shutting down for the night. As usual, she looked exhausted and overworked but she managed to put on a smile for him.

"Hey."

She took a quick glace over and saw Thatcher. He was walking away in the opposite direction but he eyed Olivia with that vicious smirk he gave her. Peter noticed.

"What happened?! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine."

"He do something to you?"

"No," said Olivia. "Nothing happened, alright? Can we just go?" Olivia just wanted Peter to drop it even though he could easily sense when she wasn't telling the truth. Together, the two of them just walked back to their housing unit…a boarded up motel that had disintegrated to almost nothing. The roof and walls had become paper-thin, and the pair would enter their room greeted by a dozen pests or so that made the place their home. Still compared to the lower workers who were living in crowded tents, Peter and Olivia were living in post-apocalyptic luxury.

Olivia spent a lot of time in the bathroom scrubbing away at her neck while Peter was busy making dinner.

"Hey Liv," said Peter. "Don't spend all night in there. I have a little surprise for you."

"We're having lobsters for dinner?"

Peter laughed. "This is better than lobster."

Olivia came out of the bathroom surprised to find just a couple of containers on the table.

"Spam and nacho chips?"

"With that little surprise." Peter pulled from underneath a table two shot glasses and a small glass container. Olivia looked at it with disbelief. "Is that?"

"That," said Peter. "…is likely the last bottle of Bourbon in all of Wacko New England."

Olivia looked ecstatic. It was the most that either of them had smiled in a long time.

"How in the world did you get this?"

"Liv, I'm a butcher. And there are a lot of alcoholics in this place. Can't say I blame them though."

Peter poured bourbon into both shot glasses. "Try to resist taking more than a few drinks," said Peter. "I don't want this to be the last night that we ever have any sort of fun."

The two of them took their first shot and made a toast to having survived all the f*cked up things they had endured in the past year. They took their time slowly despite the fact that they still had work in the morning. They were both in need of one night to relax and loosen up, not having to worry or dread about their difficult situation and any night to do so was good. The two wait in silence for their drinks to take the desired effect.

In one hour, Peter and Olivia got through 5 shots each, a little more than they had intended, and they went and sat on the bed they had to share. They were still playing the role of husband and wife. Yet neither could deny that the roles were getting under their skin as of late. They couldn't help but be a little closer to each other than they ever were. There was no one else in this reality they could rely on but each other.

"I've done it again," said Olivia.

Peter sat close to Olivia. "What's that?"

"I failed us again. You know it's bad enough I don't even have the ability anymore that's caused everything to begin with…but now I thought we'd be able to just walk out of here. They're not making it easy for us."

"No, they're not," said Peter. He put an arm over Olivia's shoulders and said, "I'm sure we'll figure out a way to get back to Boston that won't get us killed."

Olivia shook her head. "It's been a whole year, Peter. And who knows if there's still even a Boston since we left."

Peter sighed. "I know. But…as long were both still here…I think we'll be okay. Yes, we might have cockroaches crawling up our legs. But who's to say we can't make a decent life for ourselves here?"

Olivia leaned in until her head was resting against Peter. "We've done nothing but survive for the past year. I miss being able to live."

For a while they leaned on each other in silence. The slight buzz of the alcohol was slowly fading, something Olivia did not want. She turned her head up to Peter with a look of weakness, a look of need…

And ever so naturally she let her lips collide with his own.

Peter was shaken up but quickly gave in. She was definitely right about either of them not having "lived" in a long time. In a place like this, it was impossible to live or to even feel anything. The only time Peter ever felt a little bit at home was with Olivia. Fingers were digging through Peter's hair and soon the message became all too clear…

Tonight they both wanted to feel something…anything.

He placed his hands on her hips with every intention of sliding them upwards…more than willing to give them both what they wanted.

From there, they had become one with the surreal dying world they were trapped in. Clothes fell to the floor to be one with the cockroaches and the two of them fell unto the bed…to be one with each other.

The night was filled with rude noises from neighbors and the squeaking from the bed as they moved in unison, but Peter could only focus on the soft moans that came from Olivia's lips. He swears that in all his days of lovemaking, he had never heard anything so beautiful as the shudders and breaths that she gave, accompanied by the whispers of his name. It only made him want to take more of her, and his pleasure increased with the sound of her own.

There was no doubt about it when Olivia began digging her nails into Peter.

End-of-the-world sex was hot!

***

She preferred using Peter's bare body as a blanket for her own but there was no getting sleep tonight. Olivia felt his lips press against her head and said, "I have to tell you something."

Olivia smiled in the dark. "Okay."

"Seriously though," said Peter. "You can't tell anyone what I have to tell you. You have to swear that what I say never leaves this bed."

"Alright. What is it?"

There was silence and then Peter sighed as he whispered the words into Olivia's ear.

"…I miss Walter."

And for the first time in forever, Olivia laughed and she laughed hard.

***

Weeks went by and both Peter and Olivia were feeling nauseous from their worsened situation. More workers were falling like flies. It made the two of them feel a little guilty that they were the stronger and tougher ones witnessing all the death and destruction around them.

Olivia now had only 2/3 of the people in her department barely alive. The smells had worsened and Peter and Olivia found themselves throwing up on occasion…Olivia a little moreso.

Work was getting harder for Olivia. Her legs trembled with every step and she was feeling more and more dizzy. One day, she was on the verge of collapsing until she heard a scream.

Her thoughts turned away from her weak state to the crisis at hand. One of the workers caught her clothes in one of the corpse crushing machines. Despite the number of guards around, no one seemed to care that this was happening. They were all too focus on keeping up with quota.

Olivia rushed over. She quickly realized the difficulty of the situation. It would be too late to get the woman out of her complex set of rags she wore and the machine was slowly pulling her elbow in more with every passing second.

It was a huge risk but a life was at stake. Olivia ran into Thatcher's office, not caring if he was there. She went straight for the control panel for all the machines in the building and before Thatcher knew what she was doing, Olivia pulled out her gun and opened fire on every control she spotted.

The noise of machines breaking down, minor explosions here and there, distracted everyone and shut down everything…including the one that was close to killing that woman.

"What the fuck did you do?!"

Thatcher grabbed Olivia but she quickly butt-headed him. Soon the other guards ganged up on Olivia disarming her and beating her, but Thatcher assured them that he would handle this. By now Olivia could no longer pulled herself up. "I'm taking this one outside," Thatcher said as he dragged her out.

Behind the factory, there was a small isolated area that was clearly a punishment area for all the delinquents. He threw Olivia to the ground but she quickly swung her leg tripping Thatcher. But before Olivia could get up, Thatcher threw another punch at her. She pushed him back and suddenly she saw in his hand, a brick…a bloodstained brick.

"Sorry to end things this way," he said almost seducingly.

Olivia closed her eyes for the oncoming strike.

It didn't come.

Peter had appeared out of nowhere, pushing Thatcher off of Olivia. He swung a punch. Thatcher swung a strong one back forcing Peter to turn and he saw the brick. It was an impulse decision and at the same time, it wasn't. Peter reached for the brick and he was determined to swing back at Thatcher hard.

He didn't care about the consequences of his actions or if it would take a hundred hits to do it.

It was all for Olivia.

The brick came strong, practically smashing Thatcher's skull to the ground.

Peter and Olivia took one quick look at each other and quickly read each other's mind.

Now or never…it was time.

They had broken open one of the fence locks and dashed into the woods by the time that the others began their pursuit. The difference between life and death was now based on how fast they could run.

It was dark and Peter saw Olivia wandering off on her own separate path. Unknown to him, Olivia was starting to feel dizzy and her vision was getting blurry once more, but she heard Peter call out "Just keep running!"

Behind him, Peter could hear the gunshots. The pair had gotten deeper and deeper into the woods, yet these guys were not giving up. They were responsible for destroying an entire factory's machinery after all.

But suddenly, a sharp pain got Peter in the foot. He wanted it to be nothing, until he finally fell. He glanced up and saw that Olivia was still running, unaware of what had happened.

He couldn't tell how close they were getting. His breathing was getting shorter. He couldn't yell for Olivia. He didn't want to.

"Don't look back, Liv," he breathed. "Just keep running."

She was still running when Peter closed his eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

'_RIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIING!'_

Astrid tried to pull the covers over her even tighter but that didn't stop her cell phone from ringing. She reached an arm out until she felt it and didn't even bother to check the caller I.D.

"This is…," she yawned. "Farnsworth."

"Agent Farnsworth, this is Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic."

"Huh? Oh…um…how can I help you?"

"Well," said Nina. "You can start by bringing Dr. Bishop to Massive Dynamic today. My team has made a breakthrough in opening the portal."

"What? Really? But it's been so long..."

"Yes, Agent Farnsworth. I can tell time just as well as you. Now then I will expect to see you and Walter in New York this morning?"

For many reasons, some more obvious than others, Astrid felt iffy about Nina wanting Walter and Astrid to come in and check out the new portal so quickly, especially given how so much time had passed. But Astrid nervously agreed to bring Walter and drop in.

She was living in the Bishop house by this point, having taken the former guestroom. Peter's room had remained untouched since his absence. His bed remained unmade as it was the day he left, and Walter even put his old teddy bear on his bed as though Peter was just his little boy he was waiting to come home from school.

She couldn't help but be a little nervous when she told him the news. Not so surprisingly, Walter became incredibly thrilled like a child realizing it was Christmas Day.

"I've never been so excited in my life!" said Walter whom at one point even picked up Astrid and whirled her around with glee. "Like a young lad on Christmas Day! Speaking of which, we should prepare Peter's presents for the upcoming December…"

"But it's…" before Astrid could say anything, the pair had already arrived at Massive Dynamic and Walter gave Ms. Sharp the hugging of a lifetime…one that she did not take very fondly but she held it in.

"Yes, hello, Walter." She took Walter and Astrid up to her lab to show them the new device. "This experiment has been nothing but sweat and tears for my team. We've analyze and took in every little detail from your research and from William's but I think we finally have a satisfactory result."

Walter studied the machine, even poked around with it a little. "Mmm…yes!" said Walter.

"Getting any triggers about your original machine?" asked Astrid.

"If only those triggers had re-emerged in my frontal lobe sooner," said Walter. "But I suppose that is what happens when you keep the greatest secrets of science to yourself. Now…where is Belly?"

"Um…," said Nina. "He's presumed dead, Walter. You don't remember?"

"Oh…uh…I guess I've forgotten. Have we not taken into consideration that he could still be on the other side?"

"If he was, I would've heard from him."

"Oh then I must go visit him over there," said Walter. "Surely he would have some sort of idea as to the whereabouts of my son and Agent Dunham. I just hope they hadn't run afoul of our alter-selves…" Walter's mood turned somber. "Knowing what they did to those poor children…"

Astrid sighed. "Okay, well…when should we begin testing this thing on Walter? A couple of weeks maybe?"

"Tonight!" said Walter. "We test it tonight!"

Both women were surprised. "What?!"

"I will not waste anymore time when I could be looking for my son, ladies. This is the closest prototype to my original creation and if it works then allow a few hours for Agent Farnsworth and I to pack for the journey so that we may leave as soon as possible."

Walter was clearly become jumpy and insistence to the concern of Astrid. "Walter, don't you think you're planning this too soon? We don't even know if…HEY! What do you mean Agent Farnsworth and I?!"

"Are you not my assistant Miss Aspen?"

"Astrid!"

"That's enough both of you," said Nina.

But to Astrid, this was completely insane. She was not nor ever was a risk taker like Olivia but when she informed Broyles about what was going on, he seemed insistent that she would agree to go with Walter on the expedition.

"We don't even know what's going to be on the other side! Not even Walter knows!"

"He might know more than what his memory serves him," said Broyles. "You have his research from his first trip. It should allow you to get a better picture of what to expect."

"And what if they've been long dead? You have Walter and me go, we could be dead too! I can't lie when I say I'm scared sh*t about doing this!"

"Agent Farnsworth, I wouldn't normally allow you to go on a mission like this, but Walter's a clever man. He's determined to go back over there with or without our assistance. You've been trained well enough to fulfill your task of protecting Dr. Bishop while you're over there. All things come with risk. I can only wish the two of you luck."

And with that, Astrid was screwed. The Fringe Division had been lifeless since Peter and Olivia's disappearance. Little-to-none cases with the exception some X-File types that were easily solvable. She had to be the unlucky one, the only one who knew Walter better than he knew himself. Broyles was right. She was Walter's only chance at surviving whatever would lie on the other side.

Once all the survival gear and research was packed, Astrid and Walter were taken into a large white room where the machine would be tested. If the two of them found themselves in a different place without losing any limbs or getting fried…then it would be a success.

"I hope that in the process of testing this thing…you provided some sort of way for us to get back," said Astrid.

"This is the best we could come up with," said Nina as she handed Astrid a small remote device. "It's made from the same technology that William used to communicate with me in separate realities. Just set the remote and we will activate the our machine to bring you back from your coordinates."

"Oh so it's like a beamer," said Astrid. "I don't think that makes me feel any better." And then she thought _'thank goodness I'm not wearing any red shirt.'_

"Enough of this," said Walter. "My son is waiting for me!"

Astrid didn't know whether to kill Walter or to hold his hand while a strange humming filled the room. The two of them seemed to be staring at the face of a ray gun looking machine on the other side. She opted for closing her eyes.

"Hang on Peter," said Walter. "We're coming."

A strange shivering and suddenly Astrid and Walter found themselves in a dark room. The room was exactly the same as the room they were just in. Only it wasn't painted white but everything seemed beige with age. Water damage consumed the walls and everything seemed rusted.

"We did it, A—"

"SHH!" Astrid whispered. "We're not in our world anymore, Walter. Remember?"

She went over to the exit door and carefully opened it. The hallways looked dark and empty. "I think this building's abandoned," said Astrid. She was already becoming terrified of the trip ahead of her and wanted to take out the device that would call on Nina back from the other side to bring them home. Why the hell were they doing this? They've been gone for so long that it was now hopeless!

"Come on," she told Walter. He followed her down the stairway stepping on her heels all 12 flights of steps until the reach an exit door that seemed to have loosened with age. They were in a VERY seedy part of New York City where all the tall buildings were boarded up and there seemed to be NO ONE in sight.

"Now this may be hard to believe," said Astrid. "But according to Nina, the World Trade Center still exists in this reality and that's where Olivia said she met William Bell, so we'll…"

"What on earth?" said Walter. "This isn't where I wanted to…"

"Yes it is, Walter!" Astrid had a tint of sarcasm in her voice. "We're in the other reality, just like you wanted."

"No, no! This is all wrong! We were supposed to go to the place where Peter and Agent Dunham originally went to. The coordinates were 5 miles away from the Westwood Facility outside of Boston. You do remember…"

"Walter, I highly doubt they would still be there after…"

"BUT THAT'S WHERE I LOST HIM!!!"

"Keep it down, Walter! Someone might hear us!"

Sure enough there was a crashing sound and some footsteps. _'Just great!'_ thought Astrid. She pulled her gun waiting for the intruder to approach.

The gruff male voice called out. "Whoever's out there…have your hands out where I can see them!"

An authoritarian figure? This was just getting better and better.

Astrid nervously kept one hand on her gun. The other was shoving Walter to make sure he was safe behind her.

She wasn't ready for the man to approach. Just like her, he had his gun ready and aiming. They eyed each other before even realizing who the other was.

It couldn't be though. He was supposed to be dead.

Then she remembered that this was not the same reality.

"I…do I know you?" the man asked.

"Um…knew anyone name Astrid Farnsworth?"

The man smiled. "Astrid Farnsworth?" He laughed. "I don't believe it!" He lowered his gun and went to hug Astrid. "It's me, Charlie Francis!"

She had to play along. "Charlie! Yes…I remember!"

"You used to live down the street from me when we were kids."

She paused for a moment and then said, "yes…yes I did."

"Yeah, but this doesn't make any sense. I mean…," alter-Charlie trailed off when he noticed the other man with Astrid. His look changed to one almost seeing a ghost. "Who's this?"

"Ah, I am Dr. Walter Bishop," Walter said happily, shaking alter-Charlie's hand. A big _NO_ was screaming in Astrid's head. "You might not know me because you have never met me. Though…you have so…it is a bit complicated. I'm terribly sorry about that monster pregnancy that affected you. Are you feeling better now?"

"Wait, did you say you're Dr. Walter Bishop?"

"Yes, I am the Dr. Walter Bishop from the other reality."

"Another reality?" He started to get really suspicious of the two. "What the hell is going on?"

Astrid gulped. There was no possible way they could explain this.

"You're not the Astrid Farnsworth I knew, are you…"

"No…" said Astrid finally giving in. "I'm not…I…know this looks bad, but I swear to you that I really AM an Astrid Farnsworth and this really IS a Walter Bishop. You have to believe us!"

The close grip that alter-Charlie had on his gun finally loosened. "What is this about an alter reality?"

"Oh I can explain that perfectly," said Walter. "It all began about 30…or was it 40 years ago when Belly and I were working in the basement of Harvard…"

"Bell? You mean as in William Bell?"

"Yes. The very same. Would you mind taking us to him?" Astrid really wanted to get at Walter right there and then.

"There's only one problem with that," said alter-Charlie. "He's dead." He pointed to Astrid and Walter. "And you're dead…and you're dead. You're all supposed to be dead."

"Whoa," said Astrid. "Really?"

"It's a good thing I know about this alter-reality business," said alter-Charlie. "Otherwise you two would have bullets in your head right now for being imposters."

"Well gee, that's comforting," said Astrid. "But how do you know?"

"I was part of a military operation to hold back William Bell's takeover of the world," alter-Charlie explained. "Some of our spies uncovered a lot of research and even actual evidence of another reality, one where the White House wasn't destroyed but the World Trade Center was. We did everything to work undercover, to expose Bell and keep him from gaining power but he kept getting too strong for us. Luckily his most powerful experiment CRONUS was completely destroyed and Bell's splatter guts were all we found of him."

"What the heck is CRONUS?"

"We don't really know," said alter-Charlie. "But we do know that Dr. Bell and his partner Dr. Walt were harvesting unwanted children to develop deadly abilities and once their abilities were matured, Bell was going to use CRONUS to take all the abilities and use them for himself. If he had lived, Bell would've been unstoppable."

Lights were going off in Astrid's head. Olivia. Peter. The Westwood children. Was that was William Bell was using all of them for?

"So what happened to CRONUS?"

"No one knows," said alter-Charlie. "Though some people say that one his subjects may have fought off the machine and in the process destroyed it."

"You'll have to pardon me," said Walter. "But I must ask, were there by any chance TWO William Bells residing in this reality?"

"I don't think so. We've done a worldwide search for any clones, blood relatives, or anyone with any genetic similarities to William Bell but Bell himself was unique. There was no one else on the planet like him."

Walter began to develop a sense of extreme disappointment. There was no way that the William Bell he knew would posses this kind of evil. If that had been the case then Belly had hurt HIS SON! The William Bell he knew couldn't have been the same monster!

"You said, we were both dead," said Astrid. "How did we die?"

"I can show you," said alter-Charlie. "But I'll have to take you two someplace safe. You're friend, if he really is a Dr. Bishop from another reality, is not considered very welcome around here."

Astrid and Walter followed alter-Charlie through the dark corners of the city until they approached more signs of civilization, mostly military, businessmen, and scientists. Alter-Charlie led them in the back of a building that hosted all the records kept on the war.

"It's a bit like Iraq you might say," he explained to them. "We got the bad guy but it's gonna take years for everything here to rebuild and get back together again. And anyone who sided with Bell is considered enemy #1. So you might have a little trouble looking for your friends."

Alter-Charlie pulled out a box of records as well as a videotape. He pulled out a photograph of a deteriorating dead body. "This," he said. "..is Dr. Walter Bishop. Died of a gunshot wound to the head. We found his body in November of 1990, in the basement of a country home owned by David Robert Jones. His body was also found in that house along with one Mitchell Loeb. The creepy thing is that those two were found with there heads burst open, as though something in their body compelled their skulls to come open and burst."

"That is rather…wonderful!" said Walter.

"The bodies had been there a very long time. At least for several years. We found signs that small children may have been living in that but we never found any other bodies so we assumed that they ran away."

Astrid was afraid to ask. "Okay…well…what about me?"

"Your alter died in 2001."

"Wow…that long? I couldn't have been older than 17 or 18 around that time."

"You were executed."

Astrid did a double-take. "I was…what?"

"I think if I showed you the video. It will explain things." Alter-Charlie popped the videocassette in. The footage showed a large courtroom were people in military uniforms and lab-coats were standing around a square. There were three people in the center square: Astrid's alter and two other people that looked like Astrid's parents.

_In one large chair sat William Bell, the bastard himself._

_He began the hearing._

_"Miss Astrid Farnsworth. You have been charged with harboring two escaped subjects of Westwood Facility, wanted by the State of Massachusetts, in your residency for an unknown period between 1986 and 1987. Your parents Professor and Mrs. Farnsworth have been charged as accomplices. Astrid Farnsworth…how do you plead to the following allegations, which have been placed upon you."_

_The alter nervously but confidently spoke. "Not guilty._

_The man who was sitting by Astrid asked, "Where's our attorney?"_

_Bell announced. "There will be no attorneys for individuals who have committed treason against the state and its scientific institutions."_

"_But we had no idea what she did!!!"_

_Bell banged on the gavel. The crowd became restless. As Astrid was watching the video, she swore that she could see her alter mouthing 'I'm sorry' to her parents as they stood by her just as frightened._

_Then the woman spoke. "Have you no mercy?! My baby was just a child back then…She couldn't have known any better!!!"_

"_The evidence against Miss Farnsworth is overwhelming and DNA of the escaped children was found at your residence."_

_Professor Farnsworth yelled out. "Who are you to rule over this trial?!"_

"_You used to work for me, Farnsworth. I must give punishment to those who commit treason where it is due. I sentence all three of you to death in the radiation chamber."_

_William Bell banged on the gavel once more making the sentencing official. Guards immediately went after the trio in the center. They were dragged out of the room through a cold metal door screaming and kicking away._

Even long after the tape ended and the screen went white, Astrid just stood there watching the screen. She knows that man and woman who were just dragged to their were not HER parents. Her parents were just fine and dandy back in Boston though she couldn't help but feel a little bit shaken up at what she had just seen with her own eyes.

She had no idea that Walter was watching with her. Alter-Charlie had gone off into another room somewhere to look up a few more things. Walter placed a light hand on Astrid's shoulder and said a bit saddened, "It will be alright, Asped."

She reached over to the hand and smiled "Don't worry Walter…we'll find them."


	9. Chapter 9

_**Here's the good stuff that I know some of you have been waiting along time for. Btw, the numerous "..." were intentional. Make sure you scroll down to know why. ;)**_

Alter-Charlie had agreed to take Walter and Astrid to Boston in secret, knowing that helping them accomplish their mission was the only way to get Walter to let the two of them to leave. And much of what Alter-Charlie said seemed to be truth. Many cities along the eastern section of the country had been damaged in the past several decades from war, but at the same time there was also much rebuilding. In one large section of New England there was a barren scorched land known as the Grey Desert. It use to house many refugee camps but so many of the refugees fell victim to mysterious deaths while in the camps that even the military was too scared to go into the area and find out what the hell was going on. Instead the entire area had been cut off from the country as uninhabitable.

In fact, for years, refugees would travel through the Grey Desert as a shortcut to more civilized areas. But none of them ever made it to the other side. The Grey Desert had now become a place where people would be lost forever.

They arrived at the still abandoned Harvard Campus. The trio went into the basement of the Kresge building. It was both a depressing and also nostalgic sight for Walter.

"I felt their presence," said Walter. "There was a time when I sensed them in this very lab while we were in our own. They couldn't have gotten far."

"When did you sense them?" asked Astrid.

"It was a week ago, don't you remember?"

Astrid couldn't believe it. Was Walter's memory that bad? Did he even have any idea what year this was?

"Found something," said Alter-Charlie. He picked up a dusty yellowed piece of paper that had been folded up. "It's got your name on it."

Walter rushed over to retrieve his note. "Give it here!!!"

He fumbled with the paper too overly excited as he opened it up.

_**Walter,**_

_**Olivia and I are okay. We're heading to New York to see if Nina Sharp --this version of Nina Sharp can help us get back. **_

_**You must know that William Bell here was the same man you used to work with. HE HAS NO ALTER. I know you don't want to believe me but it's the truth. He confessed that much before he died. He tried to have us killed and we barely escaped with our lives. **_

_**If we can't get any help from Nina then we will return here. Hopefully you will be waiting for us by then. Olivia is not doing so well and I don't know if she'll make it. If you get this, please WAIT FOR US! We're doing everything that we can to get back home to you --and I don't know how to say it---**_

_**I miss you, dad.**_

_**Hope to see you soon.**_

_**Love, Peter 92609**_

As Astrid took the note to read, Walter began to tear up.

"Walter?"

"We have to stay!" he said. "We have to stay and wait for them!"

"But Walter, didn't you read the date on this letter?"

"I know perfectly well how to read!" said Walter. "They're coming back. They said so!"

Astrid was getting extremely frustrated. Alter-Charlie was about to say something when Astrid stopped him "take it easy on him," she said. "Let's just say that this version of Walter is not all that stable up there."

Alter-Charlie gave her a look that said he got it. And then he asked, "Since there was no record of a Olivia Dunham or Peter Bishop being in New York, are there any other places you think they might be?"

"Just the Westwood Facility. I mean, they did bomb the place."

"I doubt they would still be there," said Alter-Charlie. "We cleaned out that area after Bell died. The land there's been completely flattened by now."

Astrid went over to Walter. "Walter, we can't stay here."

"But…they're coming."

"No. They're not, Walter. Trust me. They would've been back a long time ago…"

"It hasn't been that long…"

Astrid could no longer stand arguing with Walter on this.

"Well, there isn't much I can do anymore for the two of you," said Alter-Charlie. "I'm only stationed here on the East Coast for a few more weeks. I have family out in the country and I'd like to be able to get back to them. So you might wanna consider…"

"You say you have family out there, Agent Francis. I suppose you lack the sympathy of others who are looking for their family like I am. Downright shameful of you, Agent Francis. I have a right mind to…"

Walter stopped in mid-speech. "That's it," he said. He ripped open his book bag that had his research and pulled out an old tattered map.

"I think I know where to look for them."

"But we've looked everywhere, Walter."

"A father's intuition is NEVER wrong, Agent Farnsworth. Now the location is perhaps 3 or 5 hours away from here…" Walter's finger wandered over the New England section of his map. "Or was it over here?"

"Does this guy have any idea what he's talking about?" asked alter-Charlie.

"I don't think it matters now," said Astrid. "When it comes to Peter, you don't dare say 'no' to Walter Bishop."

***

Indeed, they didn't have a choice. Wherever Walter wanted to go, they had to go or otherwise Walter would keep the two of them trapped in this alternate reality.

"This is getting real close to the Grey Desert," said Alter-Charlie. "I hope he knows what he's doing."

"Yeah me too."

"Sorry, this is the furthest I can take you. You're on your own from here."

"It's alright," said Astrid. "Nice to see 'you' again, if you know what I mean."

Walter went up to alter-Charlie and also shook his hand. "Yes, thank you very much Agent Francis but we will do just fine. It is my job to protect this young lady here while we look for my son and I assure you she's in good hands."

Astrid was rolling her eyes inside her own head.

Alter-Charlie dropped them in an area that was somewhere in the range that Walter wanted to begin his search. Thankfully Astrid and Walter had weeks of rations, a special tent, protective wear and guns. But it was still going to be a difficult and heinous journey…

…especially with Walter Bishop around.

A few days into their journey, they came across an aging compound of factories and shacks and fences.

Astrid wanted to get closer to the place in the hopes of finding information. But Walter demanded that they headed through the forest.

"Why in the world would we want to get further AWAY from civilization?"

"I know my boy, dear Abby. He wouldn't mingle with such ruffians in a place like this."

"You sure about that?"

"Into the forest we go!" cheered Walter.

Despite the fact that Walter had his compass, GPS, and maps handy, Astrid did not trust what he was doing. None of this made any sense to her and it almost seemed like Walter was relying strictly on feeling… Never a good sign.

Over the course of days, turning into weeks, rations were running out and no progress was being made. Astrid was only semi-prepared for the idea that this would be a long-term hike for the two of them into unknown country. They climbed at least several large hills looking over the barren gray landscape. The sun never shined where they were and the only signs of civilization they would encounter was nothing than flattened rubble.

Soon, they could encounter fields of skeletons and corpses.

"Walter," said Astrid. "I think we're getting too deep into the Grey Desert."

"Nonsense, Atari. There's no such thing as a desert in New England."

Astrid paused when she heard something. It was very quick but it almost sounded like a faint scream or screech.

"I wonder—"

"SHH!" Astrid put a hand over Walter's mouth. After an intense minute there was silence again. She let go of Walter's mouth and he said "I wonder when we're having lunch."

A short while later, Astrid and Walter would stumble upon a rabbit.

"Would you mind if I kill it, Walter? We need to eat if we're gonna keep looking."

Walter looked around and then said "well, I don't see Gene here so I'm sure we can keep this between you and me. Our little secret."

Astrid pointed her gun at the rabbit. She closed her eyes when she fired.

"Damn," she muttered the gunshot was loud and it echoed through the barren wasteland. Someone could've heard them.

The two waited in silence again. Luckily, she got the rabbit in that one shot.

After Walter tested the rabbit for any sort of Fringe-like chemical warfare…which he did which just about every tree they had encountered…Walter cooked the rabbit and the two sat down to their most decent meal in a very long time.

"There was once a week when I had to eat nothing but rabbits," said Walter. "Belly and I were doing an experiment on the muscle mass of various rabbits. When injected with a certain chemical, be it steroids or plain canola oil, we had to determine what would be the best kind of chemical to give to domestic rabbits in order to…"

Astrid was yawning and getting sleepy, even though it was still daytime. The dark skies made her incredibly sleepy though. A few rays would pierce their way through the clouds as they did now but only for a few hours a day.

Her senses became incredibly sharp since the two of them began wandering through the country.

'_CRACK'_

She immediately got up and pulled out her gun. "Put that fire out!" she ordered Walter. She got closer and closer to the direction she heard the crack. Soon she could hear what seemed like wheezing.

Walter followed her.

A few more paces later and they stopped.

"Who's there?"

The figure did not respond.

"Come out now or I shoot!"

The figure seemed to quickly respond to the threat and approached them.

Walter and Astrid stared into a small pair of very frightened green eyes.

They belonged to a boy…a very little boy. He shook as he stood facing the two adults, absolutely terrified. His form was both skinny and pale as a ghost only to be thickened by the winter gear that we wore. He then quickly took off his oversized black beanie to reveal a mess of dirty blonde hair.

Walter, in the same matter looked at the boy the same way he was looking at him…like two ghosts staring into each other.

Astrid lowered her gun and tucked it away. "Hey". Her voice changed to a sweeter tone. "It's okay. I didn't mean to scare you like that. I'm sorry."

The boy did not respond. He only looked at the pair very blankly.

"Are your parents around?"

The boy still said nothing.

"What's your name?"

Still nothing.

"Oh come on. Now I know you have a name."

The boy sucked in his lips and then pushed them out.

"R-r-r-robbie."

Walter then broke from his trance and approached the boy. "Oh as in Robert. Delightful name…same as my father's. But enough about me. You will be of great assistance to us."

"I doubt it, Walter," said Astrid. "He's just a kid. There's got to be other people around."

Walter addressed the boy again. "I am looking for two individuals. One of them is a man, a younger rather dashing version of myself, I might add. The other is his lady friend but between you and me I think it's a little more than that. Now I have pictures somewhere in my pockets. Assistance, please?"

"Excuse him." Astrid said Robbie. "We didn't really introduce ourselves. That man over there is Walter and my name is Astrid…and we could really use your…"

The boy's eyed had suddenly widened to saucers. He took several steps backwards.

"Robbie, what's wrong?"

For no explainable reason whatsoever, Robbie turned and dashed away.

"Hey! Come back!" cried Astrid. She ran after the boy only to quickly find it hopeless.

Robbie had completely disappeared.

"Great."

The air was getting colder all of the sudden and then a small rainfall began. Astrid grabbed Walter and dragged him back to their camp. "We better just stay in the tent for now."

As Astrid was rubbing her arms trying to stay warm, Walter was getting antsy. "Now that we have a full stomach of rabbit, we should consider continuing our search."

"You're crazy, Walter."

"How so?"

"You lead us into a strange place where there's no sign of life except for a little kid who was probably a ghost! Forgive me if I don't consider THAT crazy!"

"Now Ast—"

"It's Astrid! And I've had enough Walter! I don't care how powerful or insistent you are, but we can't do this anymore! We're nearly out of food and we're lost in the middle of nowhere! We have to accept things, Walter…" Astrid was about ready to break down. "I wanna go home."

Walter's face turned sour. "Shame that you should give up on your dear friends when they haven't been gone very long."

"Walter…they have been gone for very long. I mean jeez! What year do you think this is?!"

"Why 2009, of course."

Astrid froze. Seriously? After all this time, Walter thought it was…had he really lost it.

"You have no idea, do you?"

"An idea of what?"

Astrid placed her hands on Walter's shoulders and forced him to look at her. "Walter…it's NOT 2009. It hasn't been 2009 for a very…long…time."

"So it's 2010?"

Astrid shook her head. "Longer than that."

"December 2010?"

"Walter…," said Astrid. "It's Twenty-Fifteen."

"Twenty-Fifteen…military time…that would make it 8:15 in the evening."

"I mean, it's the YEAR 2015."

For a brief moment, it all began coming back to Walter. He had been so distraught from the separation of his son that time never moved for him. He was still living in the very moment he watched his son disappear from him. It was all he ever thought about this whole time.

"Peter and Olivia have been gone for over six years."

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Robbie knew he was in big trouble…now far worse than anything home had to offer. He should've kept his mouth shut but he was scared to NOT listen to the strangers.

He was desperately trying to find his way home but sure enough, he was now completely lost.

He could only blame himself.

As the rain came, Robbie noticed a strange metal shelter standing amongst some old piles of bricks and stone. It was an old car but he had never seen one before. He got into the back seat and curled himself in beneath…listening to the pattering of raindrops striking his metal shelter as he cried.

The rain had only lasted 5 minutes yet Robbie remained where he was.

Soon there were footsteps and a voice that sounded very urgent and desperate.

"Robbie?"

The boy could only assume whom that voice belonged to.

"Robbie, where are you?"

The voice was female. Even when she sounded very upset as she was now, she still carried a soothing tone in her call…one that Robbie had been deeply attached to.

"Robbie, please!"

When Robbie realized that the woman calling out for him was about to cry, he cautiously peeked his head out of the car. The woman turned to see Robbie stepping out and facing her.

"…Hi, mom."

His mother instantly dropped her cane and ran to her son wrapping her frail pale arms around her very tightly. "Oh…thank god, you're alright."

"You came to look for me?" he asked.

She smiled. "Of course I did…I'm your mother!"

"I'm sorry I ran away. Are you mad at me?"

Weakly, the mother shook her head and smile. "No…it doesn't matter anymore. I'm just glad I found you. I was so scared when I heard that gunshot."

Robbie began to shake. "I heard it, too."

"Did you see anyone?" his mother asked. "Did you talk to anyone?"

The boy looked down and shook his head, too scared to be truthful to his mom. It was a cardinal rule that he was not to approach or speak to strangers by himself and he broke both rules.

The strangers even knew his name now.

"I wanna go home now, mom."

Robbie looked up. His mother had been sickly looking for as long as he could remember. Her features were a bit lifeless compared to his own. Yet beyond it all, she still had a warm gentle smile it was one of the few things that brought him any sort of comfort in his scary young life.

"Okay," she said. Robbie ran over and picked up his mother's cane to give back to her. She had difficulty navigating her frail legs through the rocky ground but assured her son she was fine.

Neither of them were even sure if they could get back to their home. They were in the Grey Desert after all. This was the farthest away from home either of them had ever traveled.

But the mother was confident and determined to get her son back to safety, even in her poor fragile state. She didn't mind limping through miles of nothingness and silence as long as her son remained by her side. She would even keep on hand on her cane while holding Robbie's hand in the other.

"Mom…" Robbie asked. "Why do we hide?"

"Because…" she explained. "It's very dangerous out here."

"Are there really other people out here?"

"Likely," she said. "But we can't trust any of them."

"Why not?"

"Because people are struggling to survive and when they're struggling, some people will do very bad things to others."

Robbie still didn't understand. "But why can't they look out for each other?"

"They might look after their families," she explained. "But not people they don't know…It wasn't always like this."

"Really?"

"Yes." His mother smiled. "Long before you were born, I used to be someone who looked after other people. They weren't my family…but they were someone else's. So I did everything I could to keep them safe."

"What would they call you?" he asked her, curious like he always was.

"Many things… Some of them would call me a hero…or a savior…or even their angel…" She smiled as she tucked the mess of her frizzled blonde hair behind her. "But to the people I would work with…they would just call me Agent Dunham."


	10. Chapter 10

It got quiet and soon there was nothing that stood out from the gray ash-filled earth, nothing that would allow them find their way through the emptiness.

Robbie feared the worst. "We're lost…aren't we?"

Olivia kept her focus on their surroundings. They must've walked into a dusty fog. Sight was blurry so she relied on hearing and what her cane could feel straight ahead.

She had to reassure him, "we'll be home soon."

But no matter what direction they went, the dusty fog still blind-sided them, becoming thicker and darker with every step they took.

"Hold onto me, Robbie."

She waited till she felt the small tug on her coat and then took a few steps forward…

Suddenly there was an awful crunching noise. Olivia stopped and lifted her foot. She had stepped on a skull. Long having been exposed to the elements, its quick and easy destruction was eminent.

It was enough to send her and her son into panic. She moved forward and instinctively swirled around to grab Robbie by the arm. He was breathing heavily as his mother caught him just in time.

His mother pulled him close. "It's okay."

Robbie had been close to falling straight into a mess of sharp spikes. Olivia was able to sense in all this fog that he had tripped and was in immediate danger. In the course of six years she had developed senses sharper than the deer and the rabbits that once graced this land.

She wasn't going for stand for this anymore. She waved her cane about in a desperate attempt to break through the dusty fog. Eventually she would to rely on her guts in order for the two of them to get out of this alive.

Olivia fought through, using her cane to shove anything that stood in their way. Soon, the path ahead was becoming a little less foggy.

"Look," she said to Robbie. "We're getting out."

The dust finally cleared and once again they were visited by the landscape of dark gray skies and scorched trees that stretched for miles.

"Where are we, mom?"

Olivia listened but was only greeted with silence. The arrangement of the scorched trees however looked very familiar. "It's okay. I know where we are."

She pulled Robbie toward the direction of the trees. The boy knew this wasn't anywhere near home as they were walking down a steep hill. They stopped when they reached what looked like an unusual pathway that stretched miles. It had been in fact once a creek that had been long dried and cracked, or so it seemed.

"This is where we go to get water," said Olivia. "Home's just on the other side."

"Should we get some water to bring home?"

Olivia smiled. "Yes, I think we should."

Robbie watched in curiosity as his mother took a switchblade and broke open a dried-up crack in the earth. He was amazed when crystal clear liquid slowly began to rise up from the crack. Olivia pulled out empty bottles from her backpack. Robbie was excited when Olivia asked if he wanted to help. Little by little, he was able to collect small amounts of water and became fascinated by the flow.

Once they were able to fill all they could, Olivia quickly looked up. She was hearing a noise, a low unusual grunt and quickly pushed Robbie down hidden behind the hill. "Stay down, don't move!"

She quickly pulled out her rifle and went out into the long-dried creek. She saw the strange creature approach her unexpectedly. There was no point in pulling the trigger. It was just a deer, a dying deer…or at least it looked like one. It was incredibly pale and hairless. As the thing limped its way toward Olivia, she had no choice but to back away, unable to predict the creature's next move.

It stopped suddenly and then leaned its head toward the water coming from the crack. Robbie could see the thing's mutated mouth lapping at the liquid from where he hid…shaking.

"Back away from it, Robbie."

He couldn't stop looking at the thing until Olivia finally came to his side. "Let's go."

As they departed, Robbie could see the creature stopping to suddenly vomit, green mucus foaming from its mouth.

"What's wrong with it?"

Olivia couldn't hide the truth from him. "It's dying."

He finally turned away from the grotesque creature's sight and walked with his mother. "We can't help it?"

"No," said Olivia. "We can't…but…it's fine. It's easier for them to just accept…"

She stopped herself from going on, not wanting to hint Robbie on anything. It would hurt too much.

But Robbie, who was only 4, was far too knowledgeable. As badly as he wanted to ask her, he shyly refrained himself from it…but he knew…

His mother was slowly dying…just like that thing. Her features were much the same, so frail and bony. The dark spots against her pale skin, Robbie hoped, was just dirt from the ash.

The landscape was changing a bit more familiar but still miserable all the same. There was less ash and more tall bushes and grass but everything was still dead. They walked through a forest of scorched blackened trees whose black pointy trunks were all that stood.

Robbie was feeling better. He recognized these trees.

"There you see," Olivia pointed to a dark mess hidden behind several feet of dead grass and thicket. "Told you I'd get us home."

The boy happily sped ahead of his mother as he got closer he could see the rotten shack that stood behind it.

From out of the shack the door burst open and he stopped.

"Dad?"

A scruffy bearded man came out of the shack and Robbie remembered that he had upset him today by running away. He was waiting for some kind of angry response from his father.

Instead, the man grabbed his son in a very tight hug.

Robbie could feel the man shaking when he was in his arms. "Dad, I…"

"Hey…" Olivia limped her way toward the two. "Go easy on him, alright?"

She was greeted by a cold stare but who could blame him? What she had done today was a far worse crime than their son's.

"Hey," he said. "Don't worry about it." He led Robbie into the house. "I need to talk to your mom alone. Keep an eye on Anna, okay?"

Robbie happily obliged as his father went back out to talk to Olivia. "Are you crazy?! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Peter, I—"

"You're not even supposed to be out of bed. I turn around for one second and suddenly you take the rifle and run off!"

"I had to, Peter. It's my fault he ran away!"

"You…you're crazy. You know that, Liv? I dunno how you found your way back here." Peter tried to calm down and find relief in the fact that his family was safe again. He cupped that pale gentle face of hers and kissed her. "I could've lost you both, today."

"I'm sorry, Peter. I had to…I hadn't been out in so long."

"Is it as bad as you imagined it would be?"

"I think it's gotten worse," she said. "I'm surprised you didn't come after me."

Peter smiled. "You would actually believe I'd leave Anna all alone?"

"Well I hoped not," she laughed. "How is she?"

"She's napping now. I think we should go inside."

They stepped into their shelter and found Robbie sitting on the worn-out sofa with their daughter. Anna was around 18 months with darker hair, eyes like her father's, but she never looked at anyone in the eye nor has she spoken a single word or babble...not even when Robbie was poking at her.

"Robbie, don't poke at Anna. That's not nice."

Olivia picked Anna up and put her on her lap but Anna only began to squirm. She often found touch, even just being held, a bit irritating.

"But mom," said Robbie. "She wouldn't pay attention to me."

"I know," Olivia said.

"Can we eat something tonight?"

That was a question that no child should have to ask a parent, but in this reality, things were different. Robbie knew how difficult it was for his parents to find food but he thought he could try and give it a shot.

Peter knew of this frustration firsthand. He had spent the early years as a pack rat grabbing and storing anything that was edible, hunting and trapping the few animals that would come near their home.

One low point he felt was when he had to make a trap for crows. Eating crow meat was almost as disgusting as the thought of eating rat, and Peter swore he would never have his children resort to that.

"You know, I think we have a little of something I can heat up," said Peter. The only thing he was able to find, however, was less than half a can of some strange white stuff, possibly rice but he wasn't sure.

It was an eerie contrast to being a normal family, the four of them sitting at their sad excuse of a dinner table with Anna on Olivia's lap. Peter dumped the white stuff on the plate. "Share with your mom, okay?"

Robbie complied and scooped up a small spoonful to put on his mom's plate. Peter thought it would help but he knew that Olivia was not going to eat. Instead she took what little was on her plate and tried to spoon fed Anna. Seconds later, Anna would spew white stuff from her mouth in Robbie's direction.

"Ew! Mom! She's spitting!"

Olivia laughed. "I've seen you do worse when you were little."

It was an incredibly short meal…and probably the last one they would have in a while considering. But it was something neither Peter nor Olivia wanted to think about. They should be grateful that they were all here together as a family, but everything was falling apart to such a degree, between Olivia's health and the lack of food to be found, it was pointless for them to be living. Being here for so long, years without sunlight, had driven Peter and Olivia to somewhat lose their sanity. They were far from the persons they were six years ago. Even Olivia was at the point when she couldn't believe that she was once an FBI Agent.

Whatever normalcy there was left was in their children. Their upbringing and survival gave Peter and Olivia something to do, something to live for at the very least. For the most part, the children were happy and Robbie was growing up to be a bright boy who knew he wasn't living in a perfect world. His parents helped him to cope.

Olivia couldn't blame him from running away from home. He had spent his young life trapped inside the house, never being allowed to go any further than a few feet outside. He never understood why the family was in constant hiding or why the windows and doors always had to remain boarded up. Olivia's worst fear now was for Robbie to be like his mother and father and completely lose his mind.

Sometimes, Peter and Olivia felt it was pointless to teach the children anything about the world but that didn't stop Robbie from wanting to know everything there was to know.

Recently Olivia began to teach him how to read…much in the same matter that Peter had taught her when they were children. Bedtime came shortly after dinner and Olivia, Robbie, and Anna would climb into bed together and read a book together. Then the kids would fall asleep in Olivia's arms.

Peter did not sleep with them. He and Olivia would often take shifts on night watch but Olivia being as weak as she was, Peter would often just let her sleep through the night. It was something he didn't mind doing.

That night, he unintentionally stirred Olivia from sleep as he kissed her on the forehead. She lazily opened one eye to look at him and whispered "Is it my turn?"

"Forget it, Liv," he said. "You had a busy day today. I've think you've worked yourself enough."

She smiled. "We saw a deer…by the creek."

"Seriously?"

"It looked sick. I don't think it would be safe."

"Animals are more resilient than we are, Liv. Plus I don't think we have a choice."

Olivia sighed. "Well I'm trapped in this bed, so…you don't have to worry about me going anywhere tonight."

Peter went to grab the hunting rifle and then he put on his coat. He knew he should probably go before the creature got away.

"I love you, Liv."

Peter traveled to the place where he and Olivia would go to get water for their home. He had to go up the hill in order to get a good view of the area. It might have been too late but if the creature was as sick as Olivia mentioned, then it couldn't have gotten far.

Sure enough, Peter could see a strange shadow limping towards the thick fog. If that deer went in, it wasn't going to come back.

Peter quickly caught up to the thing as it stopped to vomit some more. It was as every bit as disgusting as Peter feared. It couldn't be poison though. If it were, his family would not have survived living in the Grey Desert for this long.

Nervously he aimed the rifle at the thing and fired...finally putting the creature out of its misery.

He would just have to cook the meat well. That was all. The deer was incredibly scrawny but it should be enough meat to last all four of them a few extra days.

It was never going to be enough.

~*~*~*~

"Walter? Walter?"

Astrid shook Walter until he started to mumble "Peter? We find Peter?"

"No Walter, I heard a gunshot." She got out her gun. "I'm going outside and see what's going on. Stay here."

"Can we have malt shakes when you're done?"

"Yeah, whatever." Astrid got out of the tent quickly. She absolutely HATED having to share a cramped sleeping space with Walter. She was starting to feel like Peter. Now she understood all those constant complaints he had about Walter sneaking in his bed at night. It was not a pretty thing to wake up to.

A half-hour passed, Astrid both feared and hoped to have seen someone in the vicinity of the area following the gunshot but there was no one. She had no choice but to crawl back into the tent and into her sleeping bag next to Walter's.

"And will we have crepes? I prefer peaches as my fruit topping."

"Sure Walter," said Astrid as she turned her back to him. "Whatever you want in the morning."

Walter mumbled something that almost sounded like "wonderful" and then he went back to snoring.

Astrid eventually went to sleep herself, hoping for this nightmare to be over very soon.

* * *

_**Woot! Sorry about that. I wanted to scare you guys into thinking that Peter did not survive the end of chapter 7 and that Olivia had been on her own with Robbie all those years, but hey…I had my fun. **_

_**Next chap is a brief telling of what happened to Peter and Olivia during the missing years and should answer a few questions for you such as why Olivia has to use a cane. Alrighty then.**_


	11. The Missing Years

_**Have fun with this. It's just a look-through of Peter and Olivia and what they went through during the time gap and all. A great excuse to say I updated while I am just stalling till I know where to go. LOL But rest assured I do have a goal: maybe complete this story before Fringe returns in April? That gives me a month. Hopefully I can do it. Enjoy.**_

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_"Peter? Hey."_

_Slowly, Peter opened his eyes to what he thought was a dream: the dream of being trapped in another world being pursued by baddies …and Olivia was with him._

_But then he saw those emerald sparkling eyes of hers, the only light he could see in this f*cked-up place, and then he moaned after feeling pain in his foot…the nightmare had become real._

_"Shh!" Olivia whispered as she held him. "There's still a few of them lurking around. We have to stay quiet."_

_Peter quietly obeyed. From what he could tell, he and Olivia were hiding in a cramped space of mud and dead branches. He could hear voices in the distance but nothing too alarming. The pain in his foot still bothered him, but apparently it was only a bullet grazing and a strain from tripping…nothing too serious._

_An hour passed and still they waited there until they were sure that the men who were searching for them had given up and went back to their camp._

_Peter finally broke the silence. "You…came back for me?"_

_Olivia sat him up and smiled. "Hey, you've been doing the same for me."_

_He wasn't going to deny that._

_***_

_Still criminals on the run, there was very little for them to run to. They searched desperately for a road or even a sign that would lead them back to Boston. But many roads in New England were completely destroyed over the years by various scientific warfare. It was too dangerous to ask what few souls they would encounter. They had no weapons to fend themselves or to even hunt. No one could be trusted._

_In truth, they had no idea where they were and while neither of them was ready to admit it, Peter and Olivia both feared that they could be wandering through nothingness forever._

_The atmosphere had become stuffy and nauseating. Peter lost count of how many times Olivia would suddenly collapse. He couldn't blame her. This reality was taking a toll on the both of them. And soon she was vomiting. Half the time, Olivia didn't even realize that Peter was carrying her. But even that would become too much for him in months time._

_It didn't make any sense until one night, when they were camping in a small abandoned store, possibly a drug store. The damage was such that it was impossible to tell. Olivia was no doubt in the moldy bathroom practically on death's door, but she was still stubborn enough to block the door so that Peter couldn't come in._

_He was banging on the door. "Olivia! You okay?"_

_"Yes, I'm fine," she said in a tone that defied her words. "Please…I just need a few minutes alone."_

_God, she sounded like she was already dead._

_"Let me in or I'm coming in there!"_

_"Peter, please…"_

_Peter ignored the plea and kicked his way into the bathroom. He was surprised to find Olivia quickly scurrying away from the toilet and against the wall. Her hands were quickly snatching the items that were scattered on the floor in a hopeless attempt to hide them from Peter._

_But it was too late. Peter had spotted one lying on the floor with a couple of scattered boxes of the ones Olivia tried to hide from him._

_He said nothing but picked it up and held it in his hands. It was the horrifying answer to a lot of horrifying questions. He turned to look at her and both exchanged faces of worry and then, he held it to the light._

_His arm was shaking as he waited…a minute later, one pink line appeared…and then another._

_There was no need to look at the other pregnancy tests that Olivia had hidden behind her and she instantly broke into sobs. Peter was at first stunned, unable to think. But Olivia was on the floor slowly deteriorating. She needed him._

_He held her and wanted to say something…but he was foolish to think that anything was going to be okay now._

_***_

_They found themselves walking mindlessly as days turned into weeks and then to months. Everything looked like everything else, dead and dark and it slowly drove the two of them insane. They rested frequently just to conserve their fragile energy. Some days, Peter and Olivia would often go through periods of just innate silence out of fear of being heard and a lack of will. There was no discussion of their third passenger…of what was to come. There was very little need to discuss it even when Olivia's stomach began to bulge. There was really no point in planning. In this reality, what was there to plan for other than death and destruction?_

_All Peter and Olivia could do for now was focus on their own survival. Peter took charge of scavenging for food. Scraps and cans here and there. Not enough to be healthy but enough for them to get them through another day._

_The skies became so dark it was pitch black even in the day. Once in a while they would see unusual changes, colorful glows and streaks that were often followed by faint echoing booms. No doubt a massive fire or explosion. Were people still fighting…because there certainly did not seem to be anything left to fight over?_

_"Do you think we're being punished?" Olivia asked._

_Peter looked confused. "For what?"_

_"For leaving." Olivia kept her voice low, afraid to disturb the dead silence of the land. "Everything just seemed planned out for us to come back…to make us stay…"_

_"It wouldn't have mattered," said Peter. "Walter was hell bent on bringing me back with him whether any of this was gonna happen or not."_

_"But what if this was all about me? I can't imagine everything being like this unless one of us was made to make people's heads explode."_

_They huddled together under a worn-out blanket that Peter had with him. There was little to do now except to sit and watch the glows in the sky. As beautiful as they were, it was clear that something devastating was happening hundreds of miles away._

_"Peter…you know when I didn't want to tell you, about what I remembered?"_

_"You don't need to."_

_"I was meant to kill him, Peter. My father. He came to the lab to rescue me. I tried to stop it but all I can remember was people telling me that I did it. I killed him. I killed my father just like I killed the other children in that lab…"_

_Tears were falling faster than Peter can smooth them away. He now understood the extent of what Walter saw in her memories and why he tried to erase them all. If there was anything worse that happened to Olivia during those stolen years of her childhood, he didn't want to know. The guilt of having killed other innocent people had already destroyed Olivia enough._

_But Peter stood by his belief from long ago: Olivia was not a murderer._

_"Livvy." He wrapped his arms around her. "Don't blame yourself for what my…for what THEY did to you."_

_Peter felt a slight nudge and thought it was just Olivia being restless, but suddenly she gasped in surprise and looked down._

_Olivia began to relax finding peace with the sudden movements, almost smiling. Peter caressed Olivia's stomach feeling the tiny little kicks that allowed their minds to…for a short while…escape from their guilt and their troubles._

_***_

_They had forgotten when it was that they gave up traveling to a road back to Boston and just wandered around for survival._

_At one point, Peter was able to grab and break the neck of a skulking vulture. He was afraid it wouldn't be safe for Olivia to eat but desperation won out. And both agreed…it only barely tasted like chicken._

_On a foggy day (or night), the two of them stumbled into a massive field of erected tents. It was near "that time" and they hoped to get help from a doctor in the refugee camp. Peter approached the large medical tent. He heard a faint buzzing thought only to be in his imagination. But then he opened the tent and was blindly attacked. Huge swarms of flies have made every inch within this space their home. Inside, cots were lined up with bodies now mass nesting grounds for maggots. Near the back of the tent, the same was happening for several corpses of what used to be doctors._

_Olivia was peeking into smaller civilian tents with the same results. Everyone within the refugee camp had died out years ago, possibly from a pandemic or contamination._

_She stopped suddenly._

_"Peter!"_

_He panicked upon answering the call as he saw her sitting down. "What are you doing? We need to get out of here."_

_She said in short breaths, "I can't go anywhere!"_

_In his head, Peter was screaming. 'SHIT!' This was happening here and now whether they wanted it to happen or not._

_They had nothing to work with but a jacket for Olivia to lie down. Time passed painfully until cries began to echo throughout the camp. Olivia didn't have a moment to catch her breath when she caught sight of a little baby boy writhing and crying in Peter's hands. They came together and wept silent tears of joy over the new little life they had regrettably brought into this world._

_***_

_The new family was forced to leave the death-infested camp all too soon. The sky began to shed snow. Peter knew the snow meant another freak winter was fast approaching._

_Olivia had pale and physically weakened from the birth. The cream-colored snow was rising almost two feet, with no signs of stopping when they finally found adequate shelter in an old strip mall._

_The days went by more slowly as they struggled to stay alive in their camp. Peter continued to brave the bad weather to into nearby buildings and bring back what little food he could._ _What time was not spent waiting and surviving, Peter and Olivia would spend huddled together and looking over their little one in awe, determined to live it out until the freak winter ended._

_"What should we name him?" asked Peter._

_"I like 'Walter'."_

_Peter turned to Olivia and gave her a wild and outraged look that screamed 'you wouldn't dare'._

_She then laughed. "Joking, Peter."_ _Peter sighed with relief. "But I do think you should name him," she said. "I thought this would make you ecstatic."_

_"I wouldn't say ecstatic," said Peter. "But I am happy."_

_"I mean having a new son in the Bishop family line. I'm sure this is everything Walter wanted."_

_"Yeah," said Peter. "He threatened to ground me if you didn't give me a grandson before he turned 70. I didn't see the big deal. My grandfather died when Walter was like 2…but I guess that would explain why Walter sucked at raising me._

_"What was your grandfather's name?" she asked him._

_"Robert Bishop."_

_Olivia smiled. "I like that._

_To which Peter replied "anything's better than 'Walter'."_

_***_

_Several months later, the snow melted and the world was dark again. Robbie was far from chubby but seemed surprisingly endurant. Olivia however had gotten skinnier and paler with no explanation. Peter found himself having to support Olivia as they walked and carry the baby at the same time._

_They found themselves lost again, spending weeks wandering through a lifeless desert, with forests of tall charred trunks sticking out of the ground like giant spikes. The newest shelter they found was a house with wood rotten to gray and decorated a bit with aging graffiti. Dead plant life had nearly devoured every nook and cranny within. _

_The place had not been inhabited for many years. But as Peter and Olivia explored within, they both got a strange familiar vibe about this place._

_"Peter? Is this place what I think it is?"_

_Even Peter was shocked. The small rooms looked familiar, and when Peter walked up the little stairway he saw the loft scattered with books and cards coated in two decades of dust. And there were papers crudely written with the name 'o/_IvI'._

_And then…he finally remembered. _

_"It's our house," said Peter. "It's the place where Walter found us."_

_The odds were truly in their favor again. If there was any hope left, it would be that maybe Walter would remember this place and come looking for them here. But Peter knew better than to hold out for such a hope._

_By this point, in the other world, Peter and Olivia were presumed dead._

_And now there was nothing more for them to do and no place to go that would guarantee them their lives._

_They finally accepted that they would be here forever._

_At least, they were home now._

_***_

_As a callback to his nomad days, Peter became an expert woodsman and scavenger. Later he would eventually find himself guns and ammunition from one of his expeditions so he could at least hunt whatever animal life was left._

_And Olivia found herself settling into life as a matriarch. It wasn't a place she expected to see herself in…not like this anyway. But she took to staying inside the house with Robbie and taking care of him, knitting clothes for him from scrap fabric. She even tried planting a garden outside but in this dreaded landscape, few crops were likely to thrive._

_With time, the place that once sheltered Peter and Olivia as children became a home in the most decent way possible._

_But despite all their efforts, the world around them was still a dangerous place. They could still hear distant booms and see glows in the sky. Sometimes they even felt slight shakes in the ground beneath their feet._

_Extra precautions had to be taken. The doors and windows remained boarded up. They even found a couple of corpses not too far away from the home that were used as a scaring mechanism. Peter had them tied and hung from a tree 10 meters from their house, hoping to scare off trespassers._

_Robbie was growing up in a world with no light and yet he was bright and curious and never seemed to mind the horrid conditions. It was a different story for Peter and Olivia. They were falling apart on the inside from all the bleakness, fear, and isolation. They were slowly becoming ghosts of their former selves. And still they did what they had to for Robbie's sake. They found small bits of happiness in spending time together as a family. They even attempted bits of normalcy, celebrating birthdays and Christmases even when there was no point in doing so. They would silently celebrate being together._

_Soon Olivia and Peter became needy for more than just stabs at normalcy. They needed a new form of escape._

_Eventually they found one in the only form they knew…_

_While Robbie was asleep in his makeshift crib, Olivia and Peter would get under the covers of the bed, abandoning their clothes as well as their boundaries. _

_The pleasure took their minds far away from the desolate world around them. Sex became such a good coping mechanism, that it soon became an incurable addiction…_

…_until Olivia became pregnant again._

_That was a frightening day for Robbie. He had never heard his parents yelling like that before and over what he was still far too young to understand. But he remembers crying, and lots of it._

_He would hear the same cries again months later. He didn't understand what his mother was doing in the bathtub that was causing her so much pain. His father was worried and sweating. Robbie could only sit outside and listen with fear._

_But soon his baby sister would be born that day._

_Almost immediately though, things started going wrong. Anna had just spent a few seconds out into the world and suddenly Olivia turned white and began to seizure._

_"Olivia? Olivia!"_

_When it stopped, Olivia felt light, way too light, she couldn't feel anything anymore. She couldn't even sense anything around her and yet she was still alive._

_"Peter?"_

_He struggled to hold the baby in one arm and reached out to Olivia with the other. "What was that Olivia? What's wrong with you?"_

_"I…" she mumbled. "I think…Cortexiphan. I thought it was all drained out of me but I was using it. I used it to have Robbie…and Anna."_

_If Olivia didn't look like she was about ready to die Peter would have had time to marvel at how quick she found a name for the kid. "I didn't know…" she said trailing off._

_"Okay," said Peter trying to calm himself. "Alright, we know now. You're still feeling the after effects of CRONUS, Liv. You just need to avoid using the Cortexiphan you have left in your system."_

_"But I…"_

_"You have to, Liv!" said Peter. "You could be dead next time!"_

_She moaned, "I know."_

_For many months after Anna was born, Olivia remained bedridden immovable and more helpless than when Peter first saved her from William Bell. The children were found spending most of their time now by Olivia's bedside where she continued to be a mother to them the best she could…even when it was discovered that Anna might not be a normal child and that she might have some developmental disabilities._

_But Robbie knew his mom wasn't looking like his mom anymore. And his dad was feeling more in despair by the day. He was happy when he saw his mom trying to practice moving around again with a cane but Peter got overprotective. Olivia wasn't allowed to get out of bed anymore than Robbie was allowed to step outside the house. Soon it was getting to him…almost to the point of frustration, and Robbie was usually the quite and calm type. He rarely had any need to fuss even when there was hardly any food to eat._

_When Peter was nowhere to be seen and Olivia and Anna were asleep, Robbie quietly snuck down the stairs. He pulled the boarded door open enough to squeeze his way out. He had to go out there and see for himself, answer the questions his mother and father wouldn't answer such as why they were alone or why they boarded up the windows and the doors…or why he wasn't allowed to be outside alone when it didn't seem all that dangerous._

_Maybe, if nature were willing, he would find something in this foreign world to help his mom get better._

_He had no idea that as he stepped out, his eyes would finally be open to the truth of his surroundings, that the world he thought was innocent and pure was more like a death trap._

_And now, he would be sorry to have disobeyed..._


	12. Chapter 12

_**Well, I'm just about done getting over this cold/flu from hell that prevented me from updating last week like I originally planned. I still plan on getting this completed by the end of the month, no worries there. In fact you might say this fic is almost over, possibly 2-3 chapters left.**_

_**In this chapter, just for fun, I added a little Easter egg for the Benchwarmers to squeal nuts over! You'll know what I'm speaking of if you're on Fringe-Forum. Just be warned, this chapter gets really sad. :(**_

* * *

A strange aroma awoke Olivia from sleep. Once she sensed a hint of smoke she began to panic, especially when she found Robbie was no longer in bed. She grabbed Anna and went downstairs.

The smoky smell was soon overwhelmed by meat. Arriving downstairs she saw Robbie at the kitchen table and Peter cutting up the meat on his plate.

"Mom!" Robbie greeted happily. "Look at the food. Dad says it's for us!"

Olivia looked at Peter who only smirked and gave her a wink.

"Yeah," said Olivia. "But don't stuff yourself. I don't want you getting sick."

But Robbie was already scooping forkfuls of deer meat into his mouth. "I've never seen so much food in my life."

"Your mom's right though," said Peter. He teasingly tugged at Robbie's cheek. "There's enough meat in here to get you all round and fat!"

Olivia sat down at the table and tried to feed Anna again but she was once more being a very picky eater.

With a mouth stuffed full of food, Robbie asked, "What are we going do today?"

Peter immediately stepped in before Olivia could get a word "_we_ are going to stay in…like we always do…and your mom is going straight back to bed after this."

Olivia sighed. "Peter, I'm fine. I wanted to go check on the garden."

"Want me to do it for you?"

"It'll only take few minutes. And I was thinking the kids could help me."

Robbie immediately jumped at the idea, any reason to get out of the house. "Can we, dad?"

Peter shook his head. He thought they would be tired out from what happened yesterday. "Alright." He looked eyed Olivia intensely when he said, "Be careful out there."

Robbie and Olivia got as much breakfast in as they could and then they headed out to the garden while Peter got some sleep. The garden was not as close to the house as they would've like it to be, but it the only patch of land that could still sustain anything remotely plant.

Robbie watched his mother while Anna just sat there and wobbled her head around. The garden consisted of a very small number of small dried out and colorless plant life. So far nothing was getting close to being remotely edible. Sure, they could get water from underground but without sunlight, the garden was for most purposes useless.

"Maybe we need water?" said Robbie.

Olivia put an optimistic face on for him. "No, it's alright," she said. "Give it a few more weeks we'll have ourselves some nice healthy vegetables to eat."

While Robbie was excited about the thought of eating vegetables for the first time in his life, Anna became distracted by a strange little streak in her vision. Her eyes turned away from the garden and she waddled in the direction of the strange little floating thing.

"Anna?" Olivia panicked once she noticed her daughter was not in sight. "Anna!"

She caught a glimpse of her daughter walking down a hill and she carefully followed. Anna suddenly started to move faster and then clasped her hands in the air.

"Hey," Olivia clasped her shoulders, which she hated and whined about. But Olivia's concern was too overwhelming. "Don't run from me like that!" Her eyes turned to the little girl's hands. She was holding something in there but Olivia knew not to pry them open or else Anna would have a nasty fit. Robbie had followed them and they both look at Anna's hands.

"What are you hiding in there?"

Slowly Anna's hands opened and she cooed. Sitting there in the palm of her hands was a tiny colorful insect that did not fly away but rather rested itself comfortably. Its wings slowly flapped open and shut.

"Mom." Robbie looked fascinated with the bug. "What is that?"

Olivia smiled. "It's a butterfly. I can't remember the last time I've seen one."

Robbie said, "It's colored all funny."

But Olivia laughed. "It's purple, Robbie…a purple butterfly."

To Olivia, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in this reality, that it almost made her want to cry. She never thought that she would see one of these again and she was happy that her children for one time in their life, would be able to see something that had a bit of color…something that was real instead of something from a faded-out picture book.

Suddenly Anna was starting to fit as the butterfly began to float out of her hands. She tried to catch it but the butterfly seemed insistent on leaving.

"Mom, it's going away!"

"I know," Olivia said to Robbie.

"Can we make it stay?"

The butterfly wandered its way onto some nearby plants but could only stay in one spot at a time. That's when Olivia realized what it was doing. "It's looking for a flower."

The question she knew Robbie would ask… "what's a flower?"

"They're pretty plants," said Olivia. "They're big and colorful just like butterflies. That's why they like them."

Robbie looked around. "Maybe there's one around here."

Olivia looked at her children with both happiness and sadness, especially for Anna. Anna was not one to smile or even interact with things but her focus had been on that butterfly and she seemed determined to follow it. Whenever the butterfly landed, Anna would immediately walk over only for the purple wings to flutter away again.

Looking down Olivia saw a dead stem that could've belonged to a flower. They could've been standing in a whole field full of them if not for what this reality had become. She closed her eyes and thought back to when she and Peter were here as children. There weren't any flowers then either but there was still some green, far more than what there was now. It seemed unfair that her children have to grow up in worse conditions than they did.

'_It doesn't have to be this way,'_ she thought. Her eyes were focused on the dead plant. _'Just one flower. That's all I'm asking for'_.

Almost in response the dead plant seemed to shake and move on its own.

Olivia began to feel the blood rushing through her as she watched. The stem straightened itself up and pushed itself out of the ground just a few inches higher.

She knew then that she was causing this and as a bulb began to form, Olivia began to feel lighter. But it was too late to stop. She knew the consequences that would come from doing this but she already felt too compelled. Whatever it took, this flower was going to grow.

And soon the bulb opened up and large purple petals fanned themselves out as if it was the sun bringing life into the world again.

With tears in her eyes, Olivia happily called out to her son. "Look, Robbie."

He turned around and his eyes went wide. Like magic, this big purple flower had appeared out of nowhere and suddenly the purple butterfly began fluttering its way to the new plant and made its descent. Anna followed and she was happy. She was so happy to see the pretty butterfly on the pretty flower.

Olivia stepped back so she could watch the children touch the flower petals. But the vision suddenly blurred and quickly disappeared. She was feeling pain searing through her body and then nothing.

Robbie looked over and froze. His mother was swaying and her face had turned completely white.

"…Mom?"

He was terrified. Olivia's eyes seemed to have rolled back before her entire body collapsed to the ground…infront of Robbie's own eyes!

Peter was unable to sleep with his entire world outside of the safety of the house. He noticed through the cracks that it getting unusually dark. Peter stepped outside and looked up at the sky. A dark brown cloud was forming. The sky was already gray and without sun but the dark brown cloud was both creeping and expanding making the sky even darker. It almost seemed kind of dusty looking.

"DAD!!! DAD!!! HELP!!!"

A mad dash and within a minute, he had reached Robbie who was standing there looking petrified. Anna had crawled over (holding the purple flower she had picked in her hand), and was poking at Olivia who was lying on the ground in an unusual position…completely motionless.

With the brown cloud consuming the sky and a blast of wind beginning to pick up, Peter quickly scooped Anna in one arm, Robbie in the other and hurried back to the house. The last thing he ever wanted to do at that moment was to leave Olivia behind, but he knew that she would've put her children's safety before her own…something he was willing to respect.

As soon as they got back to the house, Peter dropped the children and pulled open the boarded door. "Get inside!"

While shoving the children in, Robbie began to cry "but mom…"

"Stay in there! Don't move!" He shoved the door on them and hurried back.

The wind was getting worse and specks of dust were getting into Peter's eyes. By now the sky had gotten completely dark and Peter could no longer see. He only managed to find Olivia when he tripped over her.

He fought against the winds and the dust to get back to the house and close the door just in time.

The second they were all in and all safe as massive brown cloud of debris blew its way through the area enveloping the entire outside in black. To go outside now was suicide.

~*~*~*~

Meanwhile not too far away, Astrid had gotten back into the tent with Walter just in time. Walter had notice the unusual cloud formations in the sky before it began, and demanded that Astrid set up his weather machine while prepping the tent with its storm-protective framing at the same time. Walter almost wouldn't let her back in until he was sure the weather machine was set.

"What is the damn thing for?" asked Astrid.

"To collect unusual weather patterns from this reality, Ingrid," said Walter. "Surely it would've occurred to you that abnormal storms would've resulted from the after-effects of the scientific and chemical warfare that have ravaged this world."

"Well…it didn't!"

"I have reason to believe the dark brown dust in the sky is a permanent 'traveling sandstorm' perhaps from a series of nuclear bombs having been set off in the Sahara. The massive debris has created a cloud that circles the globe bringing the sandstorm along with it."

Astrid pretended to be intrigued. "Yeah…interesting." She pulled the sleeping bag over her trying to get some sleep.

Walter gave a sigh and said, "I think he was right."

From under the sleeping bag Astrid asked, "Who was right?"

"Peter…He wrote in the letter that Belly tried to kill them both." Walter was suddenly plagued by guilt. "I should've known. As soon as he approved the use of his device…I should've known that he was luring my son and Agent Dunham into a trap."

"I'm sure he meant to deceive you along with the rest of us Walter," said Astrid.

"That is why I have to find my son." Walter started to wipe the tears from his eyes. "I couldn't stop him from coming here. I couldn't get him to come back…"

Astrid finally got out of the sleeping bag. "Walter, I don't mean to be an ass about this, but I don't think it's possible for ANY human being to survive being out here for six years. We've come across nothing but dead bodies and now we got these crazy storms. It's just NOT possible."

Walter only scoffed at her. "All hope might be lost with you, Asberry. But I have personally seen my son endure. When I first came here, when I first found my boy and Agent Dunham, they had experienced torture and pain at Belly's hand that is unspeakable. To recall it now is too much for even me. But they were helpless children in pain and all alone…and yet I had found them alive. They had survived! If my boy can live through something terrible as that, then Peter as a man can live through this! Do not question me on that!"

She turned away from Walter feeling very disgruntled. Walter was not going to quit. Worse yet, if Peter and Olivia are left unfound it, was going to kill him more than anything. It would probably kill him worse than whatever storm was out there waiting for them.

Her thoughts then went back to that little boy they encountered just yesterday. She hoped that Robbie was okay. He seemed to be in good enough health and God knows a child out here wouldn't look decently healthy unless he was being cared for by someone. Perhaps he has a mother, or maybe there was a small camp of adults near here. Astrid decided that they'll do a brief scan of the area for a few days.

And maybe by then, Walter would finally come to his senses.

~*~*~*~

The brown storm was beating ferociously against the house. Some dust found its way through some of the cracks but nothing severe. The wind was the real nuisance as Peter struggled to keep the windows and the doors boarded shut. Olivia was still lying on the living room floor with a blanket up to her chest. Robbie and Anna were trying to nudge her awake but she wouldn't so much as blink an eye.

Within Peter, fury was building. She had activated her ability…even after Peter warned her that this would happen!

He gently nudged the kids away as he leaned over Olivia. He could hear a strange noise and realize that she was breathing but it was very poor…very erratic.

And then something he didn't expected to happen, Olivia was slowly opening her eyes and she saw Peter. While she was still alive she still bore lifeless features. Dark circles were forming around her eyes as her face became more pale.

"Ah."

It came out almost pathetically.

After a few short breaths, she finally spoke…

"I'm…sorry, Peter."

He placed a hand over her head, willing her to rest, save what little energy she had left.

"Dad?"

He couldn't look at Robbie.

His voice alone was breaking. "Mom's gonna die…isn't she?"

Peter couldn't say anything. What was the point? He only stood up and walked away into the kitchen. Whether to cry or not, Robbie didn't know. Now Robbie was left in that room with his mother while Anna remained occupied with her flower unaware that her mother was slowly wasting away.


	13. Chapter 13

The silence was what brought Astrid and Walter out of sleep. The unusual storm had lasted for hours. Once they were out of the tent, they were surprised to find that the brownish debris that consisted of the storm was slowly dissolving into the earth as if it all had been nothing.

Astrid pressed a finger against some brown stuff before the earth dissolved it. "Ow!" She jumped back. Her finger suddenly felt like it was on fire. She quickly poured some water from her thermos over it and waited for the feeling to numb. "God, it's so itchy. What's that stuff supposed to be?"

"You must be careful to not inhale it," said Walter. "It only irritates the skin but if enough enters the human body, it turns the body to ash."

"Well it just keeps getting better and better here. Doesn't it?"

"How could you say such a thing?" said Walter. "This is a most terrible place to be in…especially for my poor boy."

"Sarcasm, Walter. I was using sarcasm."

Walter ignored her and pulled out the map and a little GPS remote. At first he seemed a little excited, but then as he tried to think, his smile turned into a frown.

Astrid had just finished taken down the tent and packing up. "What's wrong now?"

"It's just…this location. I know it was VERY important for me to search this area…but I don't remember why…or exactly where…but it's significant. I know it is."

After staring at the map for a very long time, Walter finally caved. He crumpled the map and threw it down in frustration. And then he started to cry.

"Walter?"

He wiped the tears from his eyes and then said, "Perhaps you were right all along, Aspen. A foolish man like me…cannot even remember how to find my own son. It was luck that I found him here the first time."

Astrid sighed and then got out Walter's bag. "Walter…where's your notebook at?"

He sniffed. "Small pocket, with the Fruit Roll-Ups."

Once the notebook was found, Astrid flipped through the pages until she got to a page listing coordinates. The coordinates had been written by Walter years ago when he was making preparations to come to this world to find Peter. Walter must've long forgotten all about these notes.

She brought the notebook over and showed it to Walter. "Here we are, Walter. Now let's see what coordinates we are closest to and start from there."

Once they had found the nearest location on the map, Astrid entered the numbers into the little GPS remote. "This says we got about 5 miles but knowing where we are…it might take a little longer to get there."

"Do you," asked Walter. "Do you think that Peter will be there?"

Astrid scratched her head. "Hopefully we'll find some answers."

"Then gimme the remote," said Walter. "I'd like to lead."

"Only if you don't drop it again."

Walter gave his Scouts honor.

~*~*~*~

Olivia was waking up to searing pain, unable to so much as move her neck around. She felt a little more comfortable though now that the storm had passed and it was safe for her to be back in the upstairs loft.

She shifted her eyes to the right. Peter was sitting in a chair looking out a window, but he wasn't doing guard duty like he normally would. In fact, he wasn't concentrating much on anything.

"Hey," she whispered.

Peter turned around. She gave a weak smile surprised that he was able to hear her. But as Peter got closer to her she could see that his face was a mess…so swollen and so pink.

Olivia breathed out, "where are the kids?"

It was so hard for Peter to speak, let alone look at her right now. "They're downstairs…taking their naps."

"Do you have paper and something to write with?"

Peter immediately knew why she wanted those things. She was intending to write goodbye letters to the children. He shook his head and turned his sights away from her. "Don't. Don't be like that."

Olivia then tried to cough but it came out in the most awful hacks, like that a very old person would make. They were long and torturous and Peter knew there was nothing he had that would help. He had spent so much time 'out there' nabbing every drug or pill that would've been remotely helpful to Olivia.

He hadn't found any for almost a whole year.

That was enough for him. Peter turned away. He had to get the hell outta here.

"Peter?"

The voice stopped him before he could take the first step down. "Yeah…what?"

Peter kept his back to her but that didn't stop Olivia from smiling. "Who would've thought we'd do a decent job as parents?"

Peter was quietly laughing to himself. "Yeah…almost as good as Walter." He finally left Olivia and went downstairs. This was the last time he wanted to see her…in this way. In just a few hours time, her flesh had become bony-looking again, and the image was too traumatizing for his mind to bear. He wished that his children wouldn't have to see her like that either. But he didn't want to deprive them of what little time they had left with her.

In the living room, Robbie had been awake and waiting. "Dad?"

Peter tried to greet his son with a smile that was too hard to conjure. "Hey there, little man…"

Robbie asked, "Can we go see mom?"

It was a heart wrenching decision, but he knew that Robbie was a smart child, fully aware that his mother was likely not going to recover from this new illness. And all Robbie wanted now was to see her one last time.

"Okay," said Peter. He picked up Anna and led Robbie up the stairs. But he stopped before he reached the top. He handed Anna off to Robbie and said "I'm gonna be outside for a bit. Take your little sister and go on without me, okay?"

Robbie was surprised by his father's sudden reaction as he quickly turned away and disappeared out the front door. He guided Anna up the stairs until the arrived at the loft and then walk over to the bed. Robbie helped Anna onto the bed first and then he crawled in after.

The surprise appearance of her children at her bedside overwhelmed Olivia with all the joy she had left to share. Tears were slowly forming from her eyes in a vain attempt to reach out and greet them. "Oh…my babies."

Robbie and Anna quickly nestled themselves into their respective places in Olivia's arms. Painful as it was to move, she couldn't resist turning to give each child a kiss on the forehead.

~*~*~*~

They weren't getting really far. By now they must've traveled about a mile, mile and a half.

Eventually the duo encountered another forest of scorched trees as well as some tall hills about two miles ahead. "Look ahead, Walter," said Astrid pointing to the hills. "There could be a valley in there…and maybe some water if we're lucky."

"Wonderful," said Walter. "I could use a whiz."

"I meant for drinking…not for peeing."

"Oh…then I suppose we should stop so I may do my business."

"Fine," said Astrid. "Do I have to help you with the zipper again?"

"We shall see," said Walter. He walked over to a nearby crevice while Astrid turned around and kept her eyes on the valley.

But the sight was slowly changing before her eyes. It seemed as though the hills were slowly shrinking. The earth in those hills was slowly crumbling inward.

"Walter? Walter! Come quick!"

Walter quickly but cautiously zippered himself back up, looking surprised that he was successful. Then he ran over to Astrid and looked at the hills. They were slowly sinking and crumbling.

"The ground's not even moving," said Astrid. "And it's not even raining. What does that mean?"

Walter seemed to be shaking uncontrollably from fear. "It means, we are running out of time… This universe is slowly but surely disappearing. The weakened destroyed areas like this…are the most vulnerable, and will be consumed…followed by the rest of this world."

"How long do we have?"

He shook his head. As much as a relief it was that his and Astrid's world would remain the one intact, he still had a strange connection to this world through Peter and Olivia. He didn't want to believe for one second that he let them down, but now the odds were truly against him. "I do not know."

"Then Walter," Astrid said. "We'll go as far as we can, but if we don't find anything then…"

"…it's over. I know."

Walter quickly went on ahead of Astrid in the direction of the slowly disappearing hills.

~*~*~*~

"_I tremble at the least thing now. I don't feel so sure of my hold as I used to."_

"_Let's not talk any more about such things," said the first leaf._

_The other replied, "No, we'll let be. But---what else shall we talk about?" She was silent, but went on after a little while. "Which of us will go first?"_

"_There's still plenty of time to worry about that," the other leaf assured her. "Let's remember how wonderful it was when the sun came out and shone so warmly that we thought we'd burst with life. Do you remember? And the morning dew, and the mild and splendid nights…"_

"_Now the nights are dreadful," the second leaf complained, "and there is no end to them."_

"_We shouldn't complain," said the first leaf gently. "We've outlived many others…"_

Olivia stopped reading when she heard sniffling. She closed the book and turned herself over to Robbie's side, wincing in pain as she did.

"Robbie?"

He kept wiping his eyes. "I don't want you to go."

She replied sadly, "I can't stop it. I wish I could."

"But whatta we do? Whatta we gonna do?"

"You do what you always do," Olivia assured him. "You listen to your father and do what he says no matter what…and you'll take care of Anna." She smiled. "You can do that. I know you can."

She suddenly felt something strange tickle her cheek and when she turned, she saw Anna brushing her cheek with the purple flower. And then something unexpected happened. For one brief second, Anna's blue eyes were looking straight into Olivia's…for the first time ever. It was a blank stare as if Anna didn't know what to think or feel but soon she turned away. Olivia on the other hand, she was so happy that she was able to make eye contact with her daughter at least once before this all came to an end.

And now, Anna was stretching the flower out to her.

"For me?"

She took the flower from Anna's hand and even though the lovely smell was fading fast, the memories it brought was seeping into her…the games she and Rachel used to play in the backyard, the park outings she used to take Ella on…even the short time that she and Peter were living here in this house all those years ago. For the past six years, Olivia couldn't sort out her dreams from her memories.

Perhaps if she died now, she could wake up back in her apartment in Boston and forget all about the nightmares or that she was even connected to this hell of a reality.

A shift in the bed and Olivia felt Robbie getting out. "Robbie…" Her voice was fading with worry. "Where are you going?"

"I…," he said. "I wanna get dad…so he can be here, too."

Olivia smiled as she watched her boy disappear down the steps. She let herself sink into the pillow. Anna leaned over and was messing with her mother's long fading blonde strands taking a bunch into her small mouth to chew.

"Hurry…hurry back," she whispered closing her eyes.

~*~*~*~

Robbie stepped outside seeing nothing but the dead landscape outside, accompanied by the usual fog. He wanted to be careful this time around, not stray away from home like he did. But he needed his dad here. With his mother dying, he was feeling very alone right now and very scared.

"Dad?"

He heard nothing and jogged further out.

"Daddy, where are you?"

He stopped to listen. In the midst of all the deadly silence, Robbie could hear an unusually soft noise…

Unaware, just around the other side of the house some feet away, Peter was sitting on the ground trying to get his act together. He had been out here taking his anger out on anything he could find but it was hard considering that there was nothing left but a few charred trees and rotten skulls to crush.

His senses were so closed up. He failed to hear Robbie calling for him.

Meanwhile, Robbie kept moving forward, hoping that his dad would appear eventually.

"Da---"

Robbie fell and found himself being pulled down. He screamed as he reached out in a vain attempt to fight against the sudden sinking of the ground beneath him. Miraculously, he dragged himself up and was standing again. Instinct kicking in now, Robbie started running. Every step he took, the earth beneath it was sinking but he kept on moving…knowing that he was getting farther and farther away from the safety of home.

The sinking of the earth was getting much slower and Robbie wasn't even aware.

He couldn't see where he was going. If he had, he would've realized he was passing a crumbling hill where the dead earth was falling off and rolling down in masses.

And one giant mass was heading straight towards Robbie...


	14. Chapter 14

_**Wow. I REALLY did not mean to slack off on this update considering I've been off since Thursday. Headaches and laziness happen you know? LOL. Guess I'll be cutting it close with my deadlines…again. There's one more chapter left after this one and I plan to write it tonight and post it tomorrow. I even made an effort to check my grammatical errors here before posting cause let's face it, there's been plenty but don't worry I fixed all the chapters back to Chapter 11. **_

_**Enjoy this one last cliffhanger before I must begin my fanfiction writing fast.**_

* * *

Everything was a blur and his head began to hurt, but once Peter opened his eyes he found himself surround by dirt.

And then he remembered…

He felt the ground as if it was sinking and then he heard his son screaming. But it wasn't coming from the house. Robbie was outside and he was in trouble. As Peter tried to reach him, the ground gave in and he fell. Luckily, the sinking stopped and Peter was only 9 feet below the earth. Still, he had to get out before the ground beneath him sank any further.

Robbie on the other hand was far from reach. His small frail body was buried by the large mass of dirt and the weight was slowly crushing him. Only his head and arms remained uncovered.

"Help…" he whimpered, all because he didn't have any energy to scream.

"Help, daddy..."

~*~*~*~

Astrid opened her eyes and felt a strange tugging. Someone was yanking at the rope she had used to tie herself to a charred tree. Not too far away she could see Walter wearing the harness (connected to the other end of Astrid's rope) and running around looking at all the dirt. She freed herself from the rope and struggled her way through the piles of earth that surround her, about five inches thick, from the hill collapse.

"My word, Amazon," said Walter excitedly. "Did you see that?"

"More like felt it," said Astrid.

Walter's excitement faded when he realized that the universe was dissolving faster than he expected. This was his last chance to find Peter and Olivia and still he could not recall why it was so crucial to search here of all places.

"Walter, do you hear that?"

Astrid covered Walter's mouth to listen. There was a small cry…and it wasn't coming from *too far away.

Cautiously Astrid and Walter walked together towards the direction of the cry, leading them closer and closer to some massive dirt piles that formed from the unusual event.

"Help."

It almost sounded like a child's voice coming from the other side but the irregular formation of the dirt piles would make it difficult for either of them to get around. Astrid and Walter would have to pull their feet and climb a bit of the way up.

Thank god it rarely rained here. Walter and Astrid struggled three feet up one dirt pile and then went around it a long distance. Here they found an even bigger dirt pile and just before them, about 8 feet away was the dirty blonde head of a little boy who was crying helplessly trapped.

"Walter! It's Robbie! He's stuck in the hill."

Astrid had difficulty figuring out the best strategy to help this poor boy. It would be difficult to reach Robbie and even then, it would still be dangerous. She couldn't just dig him out without risking the rest of the dirt pile falling on all of them.

There was only one option now. She pulled out the rope and made several attempts to throw the harness end in Robbie's direction. "Grab it! Come on!"

The little boy was hesitant. He was too small to actually wear the harness and he wasn't able to really put it on being half buried and all, but eventually he found a way to hook his small arms through the sleeves.

"Hold on very tight," Astrid called out. "…so I can pull you out!"

Astrid knew this would be extremely risky but this was the only way. She had to pull Robbie out in one quick swoop or else the top of the dirt mountain would collapse on Robbie, burying him for good.

She closed her eyes concentrating for a moment. She thought of counting to three. Then Walter spoke from behind her, nearly making her jump. "Do you need assistance, Miss Assistant?"

"Walter! You almost screwed this up!"

He looked sad as Astrid tried to nudge him away. "You're took weak for this. You could get hurt. Besides, Robbie looks very small I think I can pull him out quickly."

She looked over at Robbie hoping that he was ready. "Hang on, Robbie."

Walter looked over at the little boy and the two made eye contact. He green eyes gave Walter chills again and then a sudden sense of worry. Walter was finding himself suddenly, worried for that little boy.

He had to make it out. He just had to.

"One…" Astrid whispered. "Two…"

Astrid pulled the rope as quick and as hard as she could.

Robbie was slowly coming out but the dirt pile quickly began to collapse.

Both Astrid and Robbie desperately help on to their respective ends. But the dirt was falling fast and was burying Robbie's legs back into the pile quicker than Astrid could pull. Robbie was going to get buried again.

"Oh no!"

Walter, all the while, was watching helplessly. He couldn't understand why he himself could not bear to see this little boy die despite having caused much children unintentional harm…despite having some even die by accident. Of course perhaps those accidents would've never had to be if he hadn't experimented on children to begin with.

He never felt like this for any child before…except for Peter.

Suddenly a strange wave of paternal instinct rose up within Walter. Yes, he had gotten old and brittle but suddenly he found himself grabbing rope behind Astrid and he pulled which such strength he never had in his life. The rope caused his fingers to bleed yet Walter felt no pain. He was determined to save this little boy whom he did not know.

Perhaps it was all out of sympathy for the boy who shared his late father's name.

But it worked.

Robbie was yanked it out and he was being pulled away faster. The dirt continued to pile on but Astrid and Walter kept pulling with everything they had. Robbie continued to be dragged along racing against the collapsing hill, until finally he was safe and all three of them had made it to level ground. He was left with scrapes and bruises everywhere but nothing serious.

Astrid and Walter quickly approached the boy. "Are you okay Robbie?"

He looked up and stared at the two adults in shock, finally recognizing the two same strangers he had met the other day. And they really did know his name!

The stare broke when the three of them heard a gunshot.

"HEY!"

Robbie looked over and could see someone running towards them. He turned back to Astrid and Walter and tried to shove them away. "Go," he said to them. "Hide!"

Astrid wasn't going to argue. She grabbed Walter and the two of them fled but they could still hear the stranger approaching and fire another warning shot.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!!! Stay away from my boy!!!"

They jogged a short way through the fog until they found the remnants of an old stone gazebo and hid behind the columns.

Robbie and the man were not that far away. In fact they were so close, they could hear the man's voice and his tone changing from outrage to one of gentleness, relief, and concern.

"Robbie, are you okay?"

Walter was standing there behind his column very stiff-like with his jaw dropped down. He tried to look out to see Robbie and the unknown man, but could only see shadows through the fog.

One foot after the other, Walter stepped away from the column and walked through the fog.

"Walter," Astrid called out quietly. "Walter, no!"

But Walter ignored her and instead got closer and closer until he could see the back of a man, kneeling down to his son's level, inspecting the scrapes and bruises.

Robbie looked up and saw Walter again and his eyes went wide.

Before the man could turn around, Walter only had one thing to say…

"Hello, Peter."

Walter watched him stand there with his back to him, almost forever. He shook with every second he took to turn around and hear a voice that he had not heard in over six years.

The man looked at Walter's face. He had more wrinkles and he was clearly getting older but there was no denying who this was that he was standing before now.

"…Dad?"

Fingers began to explore every inch of Peter's face but Walter was already quivering, bursting with tears before he could even finish taking it all in.

Together they were brought back down to their knees and their joyous cries could be heard for miles.

Walter took Peter's wrinkly face into his fingers once more and said the only thing he knew to say…

"I thought you'd be fatter, son."

Peter could only laugh through the tears. They almost didn't hear the approaching footsteps. But from out of the fog Astrid appeared, and she stood there completely dumbfounded by what she saw.

Peter looked at her and had recognized her almost immediately.

"ASTRID!"

She was quickly pulled in and Peter was hugging them both so tightly. Astrid could only laugh in disbelief in what was all going on. Walter was still crying.

Slowly the hug broke and Walter turned to look at the little boy who was standing there patiently.

"Peter…" Walter said.

His son's smile widened. This was the moment Walter had been waiting for longer than seeing Peter again.

"Dad…this is Robert. Robert Bishop II. He's my son and your…"

Walter gently pulled Robbie close to him and looked at him. He could see some of the Bishop family features. He really was his own flesh and blood. Walter hugged the boy and then gave him the biggest kiss he had ever given anyone on his little forehead.

The four of them walked together back to the house.

"I knew there was a reason to search for them here," said Walter. Astrid only smiled in reply.

"I didn't think you'd remember," said Peter. "We gave up being found years ago."

The land had become oddly leveled due to all the sinking, making it difficult to walk through. Eventually though, the house began to appear but Peter froze.

"No…"

He handed Robbie to Walter and ran towards the house, now slanted on one side. One corner was now several feet into the earth and the wood framing of the house itself had slowly broken apart. The roof seemed almost caved in.

Peter had to punch through the door, halfway trapped into the earth, to get in.

"Olivia?" Peter had difficulty keeping his balance as he now walked on a very slanted floor. "Olivia!"

He saw the stairway into the loft blocked by furniture that had been moved around from the sinking. He could hear Anna's cries as he carefully climbed the stairs and squeeze his way through but could only get as much as his waist in.

Through the darkness he could see the furniture had been toppled and small items were slowly rolling toward his direction. The bed had walled him in from one side but it was no longer occupied.

He turned to where Anna's cries were coming from against the wall on the other side. There she was, kicking and screaming in a strong motionless hold…in Olivia's arms.


	15. THE END

**_EPILOGUE! Yeah that's right. The story has finally come to an end. Rather sad actually. I wish I could keep writing forever…maybe. But the next few months are gonna be time-consumingly sucky and I will have no time to write Fringe fics as often as I've done since the show began. I will occasionally update "Movements in the Dark" when I have a minor break and may do any one-shots if upcoming episodes inspire it._**

_**So I would like to thank all my readers on here as well as those on Fringe-Forum. You guys are all awesome. Not much more I can say here.**_

* * *

_'Where am I?'_

_She found herself moving, almost as if she was floating. There were migraines, dizziness, and blindness. The world before her was no longer gray but an odd tint of brown…a sure sign that she was no longer in the comfort of her bed._

_'I must be dead'._

_All around her there were tall moving shadows, which she thought were clouds. But slowly they began to take the forms of human beings._

_Now this had to be either a dream or a twisted picture of the afterlife. She felt bounded and irritable as if she was having an acupuncture. Breathing seemed uncomfortable for some reason as if someone else was in control of her body._

_All she could do now was lie there and watch the strange shadows before her._

_And then slowly one crept its way closer and closer to her blurred vision. The closer it got, the more features it bore. It was a colorful face. The face seemed warm and grandmotherly but then the head of the figure…seemed to be topped with fiery red hair._

_She closed her eyes accepting that this was in fact hell. She would know all about hell having spent the last six years in it._

"Vital signs are low but steady, Ms. Sharp."

Nina turned away from the plastic container that Olivia was kept in and squinted at her assistant. It was rather dark in the room they were in as well as the room outside…and for good reason.

"Let them in for a minute," she said.

She went out another door that took her into a normal-lit observation booth and she watched as Peter entered, carrying Anna in one arm. Robbie freed himself from Peter's hand.

"Careful."

The boy luckily noticed all the wiring on the floor. One or two doctors in the room kept their eyes on him to make sure he didn't mess with any of the equipment. There were still half a dozen doctors in that room supervising the machines and charts but gave the family their space.

Soon a small hand reached out and felt the brown plastic containment unit.

"Is that mom?"

"Yeah…it's her."

"What's this? What's all that stuff they have in her?"

"They're tubes…tubes that hook into all the machines in here."

The boy was starting to panic. "What are they doing to mom?! Are they hurting her?!"

"Robbie…hey." Peter reached out to hug him and assure him. "It's okay. They're not hurting her," he said calmly. "The machines are helping mom get better. It's alright."

While Robbie seemed frightened by what he was seeing, Anna on the other hand seemed quite fascinated and cooed as she got to reach out and feel the brown plastic surface for herself.

Peter did his best to keep it all together. He too was disturbed to see Olivia lying there with a breathing mask and cords and needles covering every inch of her body and to hear about 15 different machines humming and beeping in this dark room all at once. It was far from the fairytale scenario he expected it to be for the children.

But he had to look on the bright said of things.

"Why don't we let her get some rest," Peter told Robbie. "And she'll be very happy to see us when she's better."

They left the dark room into another. Walter was in there waiting for them. He gave an almost pleading smile and Peter knew that he wanted to hold Anna. Walter had become nothing but obsessive with his grandchildren since he got to meet them and Peter knew that they were gonna be spoiled rotten from now on.

"Are you alright, son?" Walter asked him.

Despite everything, Peter could look back on everything knowing that they had all lived to return here. And soon, hopefully, the entire family could be together again.

"It's okay dad," Peter smiled. "I am now."

~*~*~*~

After a couple of weeks, Olivia's body remained dependent on only 3 or 4 of the machines but she was now freed from the brown plastic container.

Peter had been vigilant since their return. He'd been sitting in that chair by her bed for so long, that it was REALLY starting to hurt.

But finally, she would open her eyes. Even in the darkness she could recognize him.

"Peter?"

Olivia was greeted with an enormously wide smile. "Yes it is," he said.

She lied there in silence with a confused and exhausted look. "I think…" she said. "I think I had a bad dream…we went to the other reality…we went back to that lab and we couldn't get back. But I remembered everything…and then we just…we just stayed there…and then I…

"You got pregnant?"

Her eyes went wide and her head was screaming. It was all coming back to her now.

"It wasn't a dream?"

Peter could only laugh and shake his head.

"Then where are we?"

"Massive Dynamic's special hospital wing for special cases like yourself."

"Massive Dynamic?" She looked down and finally realized that she had a dozen tubes inserted into her body. "We're back?"

Neither of them heard the quiet pattering that stop just short of the bed. She was nervous as she looked up.

"Olivia."

To think that after all the terrible things she had to endure, to have survive what she had to, that she would actually bore a smile for him. But it couldn't be helped. It was him, both him and his alter, that had defined her entire life.

"Hello, Walter," she smiled. "It's good to see you again."

"I…" he said. "I heard you and Peter got…busy while you over there."

Before Peter could drop his head in embarrassment, two more beings entered the room.

"Mom!"

Robbie held Anna by the hand and led her to the bed and just like in their times growing up, they would crawl in with Olivia and she hugged them tightly. The feeling never felt more surreal…

~*~*~*~

"Again ?" Peter was a bit agitated. Every morning since the family had arrived Walter had forced Astrid to get up at 4am and help him fix breakfast…

But it was breakfast that was way too big for a family of four…more like breakfast for the entire city of Boston…

"This is way too much food."

"That's what I keep telling him," said Astrid as she was flipping more pancakes.

Walter picked up one plate of pancakes and brought them to Peter. "Eat son! All those years in the other universe has made you skin and bones."

Peter kept shoving the plate away. "No, stop! This is crazy!"

"Fine then. Miss Farnsworth, make sure that my grandson gets extra grease in his bacon."

"Walter…er…dad. Quit fattening the kids. And can we PLEASE take down all the boards on these windows?"

"Good heavens. No!" said Walter. "You and Agent Dunham have not experienced natural sunlight for six years. It's a rather painful experience for your corneas to readjust after such a long time."

Eventually Olivia came to the breakfast table in her wheelchair and the children seemed perplexed as she was as Walter were stacking breakfast food on their plates about a foot high. They've never seen so much food in their life until they started living here.

"As your grandfather, I insist that you eat every pancake on your plates," Walter ordered the children. "My assistant will have the pizzas in the oven in just a short while."

Astrid turned to Walter. "Pizza, Walter? Really?"

"Oh never mind her," said Walter. "Peter, come with me. I want to show you something."

Peter whispered to Robbie as he got up from the breakfast table, "Don't worry about eating everything."

Walter led Peter to the living room. "Now see this here," said Walter. "This is what people today call…a computer. And this," Walter picked up a disc. "This is what they call a compact disc…"

"Walter, I know what a computer is! I haven't been gone for THAT long."

"Oh," said Walter. "I just did not want you to feel out of place. It's a difficult thing to reintegrate back into modern society as I experienced after leaving St. Claire's." He opened the closet door to reveal giant stacks of newspapers. "I collected the newspaper everyday since you left to ensure that you may properly catch up on world events."

"I'm fine."

Walter pulled out one of the newspapers and read one of the headlines in the health section. "Are you aware, son, that Flaxseed is beneficial in producing youthful skin?"

"Yeah," Peter as he walked away. "And I suppose next your gonna tell me that the New Orleans Saints won a Superbowl."

Walter's mouth dropped for a moment but then closed again.

~*~*~*~

Recovery for Olivia continued to be slow and steady but she seemed rather determined. There was even talk about her returning to the FBI as soon as she could fully walk again. For now she had to remain in the dark confines of the Bishop house with the kids limping around on her cane.

Anna was becoming more sociable now and perhaps a little more aware. She could manage a few coos and nonsensical words but she would still have trouble talking and keeping focus. Peter and Olivia thought it was Autism but Walter diagnosed her as having something that's never been discovered in this universe. Sad to say, Anna was likely to remain mentally disabled for the rest of her life. It was hard for Peter and Olivia. They knew that it had to have been the prolonged exposure to the toxic life in the other reality that caused some damage to Anna neurogically.

Robbie, meanwhile, continued to be incredibly shy around other people. He wasn't used to being in new places or seeing people other than his family.

The first time Robbie was finally able to look out the window (after Walter finally declared it safe), he panicked and ran straight to his mother.

"Robbie, what's wrong?"

He urged his mom to pick up her cane and walk with him towards the window. "Is that normal?" Robbie asked shaking.

"Is what normal?"

"The sky." Robbie kept pointing out the window. "The sky is colored funny. Is that bad?"

Olivia smiled. "No, Robbie. That's…that's a blue sky. It's how it should be."

"And that yellow thing…is that a bomb?"

"There are no bombs here," said Olivia. "That's just the sun."

With each passing day, adjusting to life in this reality became more and more difficult for all of them. Even Olivia, was feeling disconnected having been gone for so long and to add to it all, the horrid memories she had of her childhood over there. It was hard to accept that things wouldn't be the same…that would never be like it was before Peter and Olivia went over there.

Peter was starting to feel Olivia's frustration. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think Robbie can handle any of this…I don't think I can either."

"Olivia…I take it your visiting Rachel didn't go well?"

"I can't say I blame her," she said. "I disappear for six years and suddenly I'm back on her doorstep with two children in tow and look like I haven't seen the sun in ages. It felt like I was stranger to her, Peter. And Robbie, I had a hard time getting him out of the car because he was scared of grass."

Peter laughed. "He's still not used to nature."

"I know," said Olivia. "I don't think I can go back to work at the FBI, Peter. The children need me. They're scared and confused about everything here…and they need help adjusting."

"So I guess we're gonna home school them?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's good," said Peter. "Walter's been looking into prestige preschools for Robbie and insisted that he found the perfect one…in Switzerland. And Olivia…don't feel bad about it. We were those scared children a long time ago…and we never deserved that."

"I guess you're right."

They were sitting outside on the porch while Robbie was inside playing with Walter. (Walter was always demanding time alone with Robbie and would spoil him silly.) Unlike Robbie, Anna wasn't afraid of grass and enjoyed being outside rolling around and the yanking out flowers from the ground to smear on her cheeks.

"You see that?" Peter smiled. "Normal is overrated."

Olivia thought of the long and miserable history that led the two of them here to this moment. Too many scars were left behind and were gonna stay for the rest of their lives.

Yet she was alive and she was back in a better world. She still had Walter, Peter and her two children.

She looked to Peter with a smile and thought perhaps…he could be right.


End file.
